


The Kageyamas

by PsychaoticButterscotch



Series: The Kageyamas [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100, ワンパンマン | One-Punch Man
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Animal Death, Attempted Murder, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Bullying, Gen, I'm adding tags as I write chapters, Kageyama Tobio-centric, Kidnapping, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Post-Mogami Arc (Mob Psycho 100), Quarantine thoughts, Vomiting, i honestly don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychaoticButterscotch/pseuds/PsychaoticButterscotch
Summary: This is purely unadulterated crack. I made this for fun. I thought about this idea at 12 AM in the shower.This quarantine got me thinking bro. And I’m bored.The Kageyama family is a pretty normal-sized family. Consisting of the strict but loving mother and carefree father. The eldest son, Saitama, the second oldest son, Shigeo, the middle child, Ritsu, and the youngest, Tobio.How does this family function?--------
Relationships: Hanazawa Teruki/Kageyama "Mob" Shigeo, Kageyama Ritsu/Suzuki Shou, implied Saitama/Genos
Series: The Kageyamas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816192
Comments: 29
Kudos: 238





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Have a TOTAL MASH of this *Yeets this fic* 
> 
> Okay,,, soo,,,, Kageyama Tobio???? You really think I'm not gonna think he's NOT related to Shigeo and Ritsu????  
> AnD One punch man??? Saitama???? In the manga when he was a kid, he was the spitting image of Shigeo and Ritsu??? They look a like???
> 
> My logic : "If they look a like, they MUST bE ReLAteD"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my fanart for this fic! 
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mylocupz

* * *

* * *

“Shigeo! Don’t float your baby brother! We’ve been through this before, this is dangerous!” Hana scolded her second eldest son, catching Tobio in her arms. 

“But Tobio likes it, see?” Letting Tobio go, the infant giggled with his thumb in his mouth. 

Hana sighed as she carried Tobio and blinked. “Wait, where is Ritsu?”

“Oh, he’s up there.” Shigeo pointed up to the ceiling to his toddler younger brother.

“Hi, mom!” Ritsu waved as he floated aimlessly. 

“Shigeo! Put your brother down, this instant!” 

The bowl-cut boy levitated his brother gently down to the ground and Ritsu stood next to Shigeo. 

“Please don’t do that, Shigeo. Where is Saitama?” 

“Oh, he’s outside.” 

  
  


“Ouch.” Saitama felt his ear twist as his mother squeezed it tightly between her fingers. 

“Saitama, I told you to look after your brothers! You’re the eldest, you should be an example for them. I knew I shouldn’t have bought you that PSP if all you’re going to do is forget about your brothers.”  
  
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, let go ma!” 

Hana released his ear and placed her hand on her hip while the other arm carried little Tobio. “Shigeo is only five. Ritsu is four. Tobio is two. You’re seventeen.” She cocked her brow. “Why have you decided to play with your PSP when you were supposed to be looking after them while we were gone?”

Saitama shrugged. He kicked the imaginary dust and looked away. “Got bored.” 

“At least be in the same room as them. Just so you can monitor them. That’s all I’m asking for.” 

Saitama propped his elbow on his knee, his chin leaning on his fist as his eyes followed Ritsu trying to catch their baby brother that was floating from wall to wall due to Shigeo using his powers. 

It was entertaining to watch at first but seeing it happen over and over again does get a bit boring. 

When the door opened, Hana, their mother, had an irked expression and she glared at Saitama. 

“Saitama! I told you to watch over them!” 

“But that’s what I’m doing!” 

“That also means to not let Shigeo use your baby brother as a ball bouncing between the walls! Shigeo! Put Tobio down!” 

  
  


\----------

  
  


“Please, Ritsu-niisan!” Tobio held the ball near his chin as his blue eyes sparkled with anticipation. 

Ritsu, now thirteen, placed his mechanical pencil down and stared at his little brother. He looked out the window. It was still bright outside. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll be right out.”  
  
“Yosh!” Tobio scurried out of Ritsu's room to the backyard. 

By this time, Saitama, now twenty-six, has moved out of his parents house in Seasoning City and settled to stay in Z-City. Shigeo has acquired a job, Ritsu has become student council secretary, and Tobio is on the elementary volleyball team. 

Ritsu would always play a few volleyball matches with Tobio until he tuckers out. 

Although, from what Ritsu noted, Tobio takes a while to get exhausted. So, Ritsu would only play for a bit then tell Tobio that he needs to go do his homework. If Ritsu didn’t know any better, Tobio purposely or unintentionally plays the puppy dog eyes on him. Unlike Shigeo, who was always soft and kind to Tobio letting him do whatever he wanted, Ritsu had to be the older brother that needed to put his foot down. Their elder brother, Saitama, didn’t really care what they did, as long it wasn’t super dangerous. So, he was no help at all. 

After the third match, Tobio was still high on energy. The sun had overlooked the houses and the sky had become orange. 

“Tobio, I have to go back and do my homework now.” Ritsu wiped the sweat from his temple and massaged his forearm. 

“Ritsu-nii! One more!” The younger Kageyama shouted. 

“Don’t you have homework to do?” 

When Tobio went quiet and looked away, Ritsu hummed. “Did you do your homework, Tobio?” 

It looks like Tobio is sweating bullets. 

“If you need my help, you could’ve just asked. Waiting for the last minute and panicking isn’t going to solve anything, otouto.”

The Kageyama brothers were in the dining room, Ritsu already finished with his homework and helping Tobio with his. He was patient with him as Tobio tried his best to solve each portion of the homework. 

“Why do I need to learn English? I’m Japanese, I have no use for it!” Tobio gripped the fringe of his hair and growled. 

“It’s not that hard.”  
  
“Easy for you to say! You’re smart! Like, really, really, smart!”  
  
“Well, that’s cause I studied. Do you study?”

Tobio grumbled and leaned his head on his brother’s shoulder. “I don’t get it. It’s hard to stay up in class and listen to the teacher. I don’t know how you do it…”  
  
Ritsu thought for a moment. “It’s cause I like it. If you like something, or enjoy it, you pay attention and start to memorize things that you want to learn. Like how you are with volleyball. For your age, you’re really great at it. You work hard to win, to learn. Maybe, if you tried to see your subjects as something you want to win at, maybe you’ll be good at it.” 

Tobio blinked and sat straight. He picked up the pencil and stared at the sentence. He stared at it for a while and filled in the blank. Sliding the paper over to his older brother, Ritsu proofread the sentence and smiled. 

“It’s correct.” 

\------------

Tobio, as an eleven-year-old, is pretty impressionable. 

He believed what his older brothers told him. Everything, anything. They were his family and they only wanted him to be careful and also watch out for them too as they also looked out for his well being. So when Shigeo says that spirits are real, he believes him. When Saitama says be careful because there are monsters, Tobio listens. 

And when Ritsu says that Shigeo’s Shishou is nothing but a greedy con artist, Tobio will agree. 

Out of curiosity, Tobio tagged along with Shigeo to go to his work. It’s his first time seeing Shigeo’s Shishou so he only has one mindset. 

That he is a greedy, bad person. 

Cause that’s what con artists are. 

Greedy, bad people. 

“Mob, who’s the kid?” The man with the pink tie asked. 

“Shishou, this is my younger brother, Tobio. I spoke to you about him before.” Shigeo introduces Tobio to him and the younger Kageyama bows. 

“This job is not for kids, Mob. Listen, Mob’s little brother, you should go home. Don’t you have better things to do?” 

Tobio stared. 

Reigen raised a brow. 

“Tobio wanted to come because he wanted to see what I do at my job.”

It was a normal day at the office. For Shigeo, that is. He would keep track of the receipts and check in the customers that would come in now and then. Tobio would stare in wonder as Reigen works his ways to the customer. 

Reigen pulled Mob aside and whispered, “Mob, is your brother just going to glare at me the entire time?” 

“Glaring?” Shigeo peaked behind him and it was just Tobio fixated on Reigen. “Tobio’s not glaring. That’s just his face.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“I’m pretty sure.”  
  
Reigen phone started to ring. Picking it up, he had a small conversation, and from what Mob picked up, they had a case. Clasping his hands, he looked to Tobio, “Well, kid. Mob and I better get going. We have a case and this isn’t for children. Go home.” The man waved his hand. 

Tobio hopped down to the floor and clung to Shigeo’s side. “I’m not leaving Shigeo-nii.”  
  
“Kid, jobs like these aren’t suitable for kids.”  
  
“Wasn’t he my age when you offered him this job?” 

“I was actually younger.” Shigeo piped in. 

_‘You’re not helping, Mob…'_ Reigen sweatdropped. He sighed and ruffled his hair. “Listen, if you can see ghosts and exorcise them, I’ll let you join us. But what from Mob told me, you can’t. Go home.”  
  
Tobio lowered his head and gripped tight on Shigeo’s gakuren. “But I want to be with Nii-san. I don’t want Nii-san to be alone…”  
  
“I’m not alone, Tobio. I have Shishou-”  
  
“That’s different! I want to stay with Nii-san! Can I please go with you?” Tobio pouted. His brow furrowed and jutted his lower lip, his eyes shining. 

“Okay. But when I’m going to exorcise them, stay with Shishou.” 

Tobio smiled widely. 

“Wait, wait, wait! Mob, you can’t just make that decision alone!”  
  
“But Tobio will just stay by your side. He won’t be a hindrance, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Shigeo placed his hand on Tobio’s hair and ruffled it. 

Reigen massaged his temples. “Okay, fine. But you can’t leave our sight okay?” 

Tobio nodded vigorously. 

_‘Who thought I would be babysitting?’_

  
  
  


Tobio clung to Shigeo’s side, slightly jumping at the creaky sound. According to Reigen, their case was located in a construction site. They met the customer outside and after Reigen talked with him, the three were left to their own devices. Walking around the building, they’ve been walking deeper and deeper into the dark, Shigeo saying that the more they walk east, he feels the spirit grow stronger. 

“Are we there yet?” Tobio asked. 

“Almost.” Shigeo replied. 

The younger boy looked up and he almost stopped walking because of how pretty the night sky was. 

“Kid, keep walking, don’t get distracted.” 

Tobio looked at Reigen and nodded, trekking behind his older brother. “Do you usually go to places like these?” 

“Sometimes. Shishou and I go to normal places or abandoned places. Spirits can be anywhere, especially in the place they died. But this is my first time going into an active construction site. Ah, we’re here.”  
  
A sudden chill went down Tobio’s back. He quickly held onto the sleeve of Shigeo’s uniform. 

“Are you scared, Tobio?”

“N-No! I’m cold!” 

Shigeo turned around and felt the gush of wind flow through his hair. “I found the spirit.” 

“Do your thing, Mob.”  
  
Shigeo raised his hand and the spirit disappeared. There was a creaking sound and the three looked up. Part of the structure was beginning to fall onto Shigeo, so the middle-schooler pushed his younger brother to Reigen and just as he was about to stop the falling concrete, he was pushed harshly onto the wall.

A large pile of rubble separated Shigeo with his boss and his little brother. 

“Shigeo-nii!” “-Mob!”

“I’m fine! There’s more than one spirit. I’ll take care of it.” 

Tobio wrung his shirt, his brow furrowed as he stared at the fallen concrete. 

“Don’t worry. Mob is strong.”  
  
“I know. I know that.”  
  
“Then why are you worried?” 

Tobio shrugged. “This is my first time seeing Shigeo-niisan at work. I can’t not be worried. He’s my brother.” 

“Mob’s been doing this for years. He’s mastered exorcising. Just stay close to me, alright? I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” 

Tobio stared up at him and looked down. There was a big clatter and the younger boy jolted, clutching the arm of Reigen’s sleeve. 

“Mob, you doing alright there?” Reigen shouted out from behind the cluttered wall. "Mob?” 

The fallen concrete started to levitate. Shigeo’s hand was slightly raised as it directed the rubble to the side of the wall, another heap forming. 

“What’d I tell you, kid? Mob’s got this-”  
  
“Shishou, Tobio! Get down!” 

Without hesitation, Reigen dropped to his knees, bringing Tobio down with him and protecting his skull with his hand. 

Shigeo’s powers quickly impaled the large behemoth, his aura encircling the large ghost and squeezing it until it popped like a balloon. 

“You’re safe now.” Shigeo assured, pulling his little brother up and dusting off his shoulder. 

There was a twinkle in Tobio’s eyes. “I don’t know what happened, but you’re so cool, Nii-san!” 

There was a slight blush on Shigeo’s cheeks and he scratched his face, chuckling lightly. “Eheh, thanks.” 

“Now that’s over and done with, you guys can pick what you want to eat. My treat.” 

Shigeo and Tobio arrived at home now. After being served ramen, Tobio made a conclusion. From his bed, he thought out loud, “Reigen-san is not so bad, after all.” 

When Shigeo came home late that day, Ritsu thought nothing of it. But when he turned on the T.V, aimlessly flipping through channels, his eyes widened when he passed a channel, quickly flipping back. 

It was a new channel. 

Part of a school had been destroyed and was being torn apart, part of the building flying into the sky.

Ritsu gripped the remote tightly in his hand, slightly shaking and a bead of sweat forming at his temple. 

He knew Shigeo did this. 

Someone has messed with his brother and brought out that _thing_. 

All that damage. 

Because of that thing. 

Tobio was pretty dumb about a some things. His focus was mostly on volleyball and that’s what mostly ran through his head. His academics could be better, if he would just pay attention and not sleep in class. He had a few select group of friends, which were mostly those in the volleyball club. If anything, the things that he excelled at was volleyball and math. With his brother, Ritsu, helping him, he can catch up to his school work and he made things easier for Tobio to understand. Math was alright. Ritsu helped Tobio make him like math. He said that volleyball can be like math. You have to measure the distance to who you’re setting at and it made Tobio think that it’s pretty useful to know that. 

Another thing that Tobio has been trying to be good at, was reading his brothers. From what he can remember when he was a child, was that his eldest brother was apathetic and lazy. He wore a blank-face. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care for his family. From the stories that Ritsu and Shigeo told him, Saitama would crack jokes and ruffle their hair when they did something good or when he felt like it. When Ritsu would ask for food, Saitama would make a dish for him. Since Saitama was older than Tobio, Tobio didn’t really have much of a chance to build a relationship with him. But Saitama would send a cat meme sometimes, maybe even ‘How are you?’ just to catch up with Tobio. 

Shigeo also wore a blank face. From time to time, when he saw something he really liked, his eyes would slightly widen in fondness and admiration and he would wear a small smile. But Tobio kind of understood why Shigeo had to wear a blank-face. Since his emotion linked with his powers, who knows what would happen if it were extreme. So he keeps his emotions inside and bottles them up then it builds until he has to release it in some way. Tobio was unsure if that was a good thing or not, but he isn’t really good at emotions either so he couldn’t really call his older brother out on it. But when Shigeo did show his emotion, it was always in words. He was always genuine and sincere and even though he can’t ever read the atmosphere, he does really try his best to understand what is happening. 

Ritsu was also pretty neutral with emotions. But among the Kageyama scale, he would be considered pretty emotional. In their home, he would smile, laugh, be upset, or somber. Tobio thinks Ritsu has a switch when it comes to each brother. Ritsu was close with Saitama, they would share the laughs and the jokes, the strong emotions and such. From this day, when Tobio would take a peak at Ritsu’s phone, Saitama texted him and Tobio thinks they text often. He can tell, during a study session with Ritsu, Ritsu would show Tobio a meme that Saitama sent and he would burst out laughing. 

When Ritsu’s with Tobio, he was willing to always play volleyball with him until night falls, even when Ritsu is exhausted from school he was still up for a match. At the dinner table, when Tobio is still hungry, Ritsu would share his portion with him, no hesitation. If Tobio is struggling with school, Ritsu would offer and be ever so patient with him and give him helpful tips to make the subject easier. Ritsu would talk to Tobio about anything, if something is on his mind, or if he needs another opinion or something. They don’t usually have serious conversations, maybe it’s reserved between Saitama and Ritsu. Tobio doesn’t really mind. 

He’s not that good at serious stuff. 

From what Tobio can recall as an early toddler, he felt the bond between Shigeo and Ritsu. It was strong. The sense of admiration between each other and the respect they held was unbreakable. Tobio knew that Ritsu was his favorite brother, he didn’t really seem to mind. Ritsu was his favorite brother too. But something happened. Tobio briefly knows and he can tell the relationship between the brothers was strained. The admiration was one-sided. Something, akin to obsession, has developed. Fear had replaced respect. Nothing but eggshells and glass when it came to Shigeo. Tobio would watch the lightest flinch on Ritsu if Shigeo was to be angry. Tobio didn’t understand what the big deal was. Shigeo would never hurt his brothers. He loved us too much. 

“Something’s on your mind, Ritsu-nii.” Tobio stated, his eyes still on his homework as he tried to solve the english sentence. “I’m not good at many things. If you want to talk, I can always listen. I’m good at listening.” Tobio offered, setting his pencil down and looking straight at his brother.

Tobio thinks Ritsu probably talked about his problems with Saitama. It didn’t hurt to try talking about serious stuff, even if Tobio isn’t good at that. 

He’ll try his hardest, for his brother. 

“I won’t pry, but I’m here for you.” Tobio assured. 

Ritsu blinked, glancing to the window. “I shouldn’t trouble you with my problems. You don’t need that, it can distract you.” 

"It wouldn’t bother me at all. If I have to take a guess, is this about Shigeo-nii?” 

Ritsu didn’t move. 

Bullseye. 

“I’m pretty dumb. But I’ve noticed some things. You...You walk as if there is broken glass around Shigeo-nii. I don’t know what happened when we were kids, but I knew something changed when you got out of the hospital. I never pushed mom or dad or Shigeo or you to tell me. I just thought it wasn’t my business. So, I never pried.”

Tobio took Ritsu’s silence to continue. 

“Even as a kid, I always thought you and Shigeo had this unbreakable bond. Then the hospital thing happened. And now you’re trying to keep this strained pleasantry with Shigeo-nii. As much as I want to know what happened, I know you won’t tell me cause you don’t want to. Or you do, you just don’t know when’s the right time. It’s whatever.” Tobio closed his book and stared at his brother. 

Tobio glanced down at Ritsu’s fist that was laid on the desk. It had tightened to hard that his knuckles were a pale color. 

“If you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine too. I’m just next door. I’ll see you at dinner, Ritsu-nii.” He collected his belongings and got up, walking out the door and into his room. 

When Tobio dropped his stuff in his room, he decided to visit Shigeo. 

Tobio knocked on Shigeo’s door and he heard nothing. 

“I’m coming in.” Tobio announced. 

Shigeo was sitting on his futon, no shirt on but pajama pants on. There was a first aid kit and dark bruises on his arms, side, and back. When Tobio looked at his neck, he closed the door and sat next to his older brother. 

He grabbed the bandages and gingerly held Shigeo’s forearm, wrapping around and making sure it’s not too tight. He grabbed the small medical tape and began to wrap the bandages on his fingers. They were all cut up and bruised, luckily, nothing was or felt broken. 

Just as Tobio wrapped the gauzes on Shigeo’s back and sides, he spoke up. 

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” 

“It wasn’t that bad.” Shigeo replied. 

“It’s not some gang, is it?” 

“Uhm...It was at first, but then it wasn’t.” 

“Do you want to tell me?” Tobio emphasized. 

“I shouldn’t bother you with my problems, otouto.” 

Tobio’s lips pressed into a thin line and finished tying the gauzes together. 

“Then can I ask how you got those bruises on your neck? It looks like someone choked you.” 

Shigeo stayed quiet. 

Tobio sighed. “If you want to vent, I can listen. I stayed up during a health class and they said that venting can help with your emotions. I’m not an expert on it, but I know it does work. But that’s only if you want to tell me. My door is always open...Do you want me to cover the...the bruises on your neck too? I know mom and Ritsu will freak out if they saw it.” 

“Thank you.” Shigeo muttered. 

When Tobio was done, he stood up and Shigeo put on his hoodie. “I’ll be going, Shigeo-nii. I’ll see you at dinner.” 

After dinner rolled around, normal as it was, a bit tense, yes, but Ritsu did talk to Shigeo about school. Mom asked about the bandages and Shigeo replied that he got that during a training session with the Body Improvement Club. 

Tobio tossed the ball to himself, again and again as he thought. 

Tobio usually thinks about volleyball. He always thinks about volleyball. He lives it, breathes it. Now, he’s thinking of his older brothers. Why do they hide so much from him? He doesn’t understand why. It won’t hurt him, Tobio’s got thick skin. He just wants to help Ritsu and Shigeo to rekindle their relationship again, the way it used to be. 

Not knowing what to do, he turns to his elder. 

Calling his eldest brother, it took a few rings and he picked up.

_“What’s up, little brother?”_

Being straightforward as he always was, Tobio asked, “Do you remember when Ritsu-nii went to the hospital?” 

There was a hum at the other line and Saitama answered, _“A little bit. Why?”_

“Can you tell me what happened? How did he end up in the hospital?” 

_“I think Ritsu was six? And Shigeo was seven? They were walking around the neighborhood and some highschool delinquents wanted their money. I know the bullies were unconscious and Ritsu ended up having a scar on the side of his forehead. I’m not sure how he ended up there, but I know it had something to do with Shigeo’s powers.”  
_  
“Did Shigeo-nii...hurt Ritsu-nii?” 

_“Not intentionally. You know Shigeo loves his family more than anything. He wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose. He probably just lost control and was high on adrenaline that he couldn’t think straight.”  
_  
“So that’s why Ritsu-nii is scared of Shigeo-nii...” Tobio muttered. 

_“What’d you say? Ritsu scared of Shigeo?”_

“Yeah.”  
  
 _“Ritsu just has trauma that needs time to heal over. Those two are inseparable. Did something happen over there, little brother?” Saitama wondered, crunching on something. Probably chips._

“Uhm, well, I think something happened to Shigeo-nii today and Ritsu-nii started spacing out when he was trying to help me with my homework. I don’t know what exactly happened, but Shigeo-nii was hurt a lot. I think Ritsu-nii noticed the bandages but he just doesn’t believe what Shigeo-nii told us.”  
  
 _“That was?”_

“He got hurt when training with the Body Improvement Club.” 

_“How bad were these injuries?”_

“There was bruising on his arms and sides. Even cuts on his fingers, hands, and knees. The worst one was that there was a hard bruising on his neck. Like someone choked him. When I asked, Shigeo-nii didn’t say anything back. So it must be true.”  
  
 _“I’ll check out if there was any news on Seasoning City online.”_

“Saitama-nii…”

“ _Yeah_?”

“Does Ritsu-nii pretend to like Shigeo-nii?” 

_“What? No, no. Listen to me, Tobio. Ritsu does love Shigeo. He loves all of us. He just needs time to heal over what happened. Do you want me to talk to him?” \_

“Yeah. But-But don’t say you wanted to talk to him because of me. I think he’ll get mad at me for being nosy.” 

_“Tobio, there’s nothing wrong with caring. Though, if that’s what you want, I won’t say a thing about you mentioning it. Get some sleep, okay? I heard you do volleyball, and that takes a lot of energy.”_

“Okay, Sai-nii.” Tobio yawned and rubbed his eyes. Glancing at his digital clock, it was nine o’clock sharp. 

_“Bye, little brother.”_

“Bye.” 

  
  


\----

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some angst. I should tag that. And brotherly support and love. Mostly Ritsu, because RITSU IS BEST BROTHER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keeping up with the timeline is hard.

This is weird. Tobio knew something was off. With Ritsu, specifically. He’s been talking to himself, Ritsu doesn’t usually talk to himself. It’s like he’s having an argument with someone. But no one’s there? What the hell? Tobio has seen Shigeo talk to thin air before. He said that it was a spirit. Has Ritsu been talking to ghosts? He can see ghosts? Does his brother have psychic powers? 

It’s not impossible. But, Tobio decides not to ask. Not now. Ritsu has been preoccupied with school, starting to come home later than usual because of the student council. 

Tobio started to notice that the spoons have been missing. Where have they gone? He wanted to eat blueberry yogurt but when he opened the drawer, they were all gone. So he ate yogurt with a fork. Shigeo stared at him with curiosity, as to why he’s eating yogurt with a fork. “I can’t find the spoons.” Tobio stated. 

Does Ritsu have a fever? His cheeks have been unusually red but he’s not acting odd. Besides talking to himself. Tobio hopes Ritsu will feel better the next day... 

  
  


Something happened. Something between Shigeo and Ritsu. They seem...closer? They came home really late last night. Mom scolded them. Dad said not to be too hard on them. Shigeo replied to mom saying that Master Reigen needed both him and his brother to help him in case. That’s why they got home so late. 

That’s a valid response. 

At the dinner table, Shigeo bends a spoon. His rice falls on the table. As Shigeo picks up a napkin and folds the rice in the napkin, Tobio watches in fascination when Ritsu straightens the spoon. 

“You have powers?” Tobio asks with a full mouth of food. 

“Tobio, don’t eat with your mouth full.” His mom reminded him. 

As the younger brother watches his older brothers talk with a pleasant air between them, Tobio feels that it was genuine. Maybe they had a talk and now they’re on good terms. That’s good, Tobio didn’t want his brothers to be on awkward or worse, bad terms with each other. It’s nice to see them talk about something, especially with real smiles on their faces. 

“I think I want to move in with grandpa.” Tobio says to his brothers. They were outside, playing with the volleyball. Shigeo kept score while Ritsu and Tobio played against each other. 

“I heard that the schools in the Miyagi Prefecture are really great at volleyball. And grandpa’s there, so he can teach me more stuff about volleyball. I really miss him too.” 

Ritsu and Shigeo looked at each other and their gazes softened at Tobio’s posture. The older brothers knew how much their grandpa cared for Tobio, since they have so much in common. It’s only natural for Tobio to want to move in with their grandpa since he used to be a volleyball coach. He can teach Tobio much more about the sport, more than Ritsu and Shigeo can do. If that’s what made Tobio happy, they won’t stop him, they’ll support him. 

“Are you thinking of moving there when you reach junior high?” Ritsu asks.

Tobio nods. “I don’t know how to talk to mom or dad about it. I think that mom will say no and put me in some other school and their volleyball team will suck.” 

“Mom might be against it, but she does want you to be happy. It’ll take time for her to warm up to the idea, but as long as you stay in contact with us, she’ll say yes.” Shigeo says. 

“You think so?”

“Most likely.” 

Talking with mom went just as Tobio expected. She’ll think about it, calling up grandpa to know about Tobio’s consideration in living with him. She said that before summer starts, she’ll give him an answer. 

“Just make sure to call us every now and then, alright kiddo?” Dad ruffles Tobio’s hair. 

After volleyball practice ended, Tobio stopped by the convenience store to buy meat buns and milk box. From his elementary school to his home, it was a pretty long walk. He didn’t mind, it was peaceful. The spring wind was still chilly, but it felt refreshing since he was sweating during practice. His volleyball team was okay, they weren’t great but they weren’t bad either. He just wishes they could take it seriously, a few of them just skip practice and when they have a game, they complain why their play was trash. It pisses Tobio off. If you don’t take it seriously, why are you even playing? You’re not giving it your all, so what’s the point of you joining? 

His glare deepened, giving the people around him a nervous aura. Tobio was still stuck in his head, drinking furiously at his drink. Going unnoticed, a creep watched as Tobio passed by and his eyes smiled, waiting a few minutes and started to follow the boy. 

Still a few blocks away from home, Tobio decided to sit on the grass near the small river. He knew where he was, it’s the pathway where his brothers walked to school, crossing a small bridge. 

Tobio stared at the sunset, a few stars peaking at the yellow-purple sky. He began to take out the meat buns from the plastic bag and began to eat them. He really shouldn’t since it was almost dinner, but he couldn’t help himself, he’s hungry. 

All of a sudden, a figure sat next to Tobio. Tobio with a meat bun in his mouth, blinked at the person, and shrugged them off. He paid no attention to them, until the figure scooched next to him that they’re shoulders were touching. 

“Why are you next to me?” Tobio finished chewing and glared at the person with a hoodie up. The lack of personal space was irritating so just as Tobio was about to get up and leave, the person latched their grubby hand onto his shoulder to stay in one place. 

“What the-”  
  
Before Tobio can punch the guy, it’s like his limbs were heavy and they couldn’t move. He tried to lift even a finger and it just laid there, glued to his sides. 

“You’re Kageyama, right?” A low voice questioned. 

Tobio didn’t answer. 

“I’m going to take that as a yes. Defeating the Seventh Division of CLAW was pretty ballsy of you. If the other leaders heard of what you did, you’ll be nothing but six feet under the ground. Or worse. I don’t care.”   
  
Tobio’s eyes darted. He wished he could turn his head, but it stayed, lowered to the ground. 

“But if I were to bring you to the boss and told him what you did, I would say he’d be impressed. Maybe even recruit you. Then I’ll get boosted up a position. It’s weird though, I’m not getting a good read on you. Do you have your powers lowered or what?” 

The grip on Tobio’s shoulder tightened, it started to hurt. “Answer me.” He snipped. 

“I don’t have psychic powers.” Tobio replied, trying not to shake. This guy thinks he’s one of his brothers. But Tobio isn’t going to reveal them. Over his dead body. 

“Cut the shit, I know you do.”  
  
“If you knew, why aren’t you feeling the aura radiate from me? You would have put more of a fight, rather than glue me to the ground.”   
  
“Fighting you at this hour? With people around?”   
  
“At this time, most people are home or somewhere else, not many people come to this area.”   
  
The man was silent. 

“If I was psychic, I would have sensed you a long time ago and walked to a more public place to lose your trail. Or I could have fought you right now. But I can’t. I don’t have powers. Let me go.” 

“This lying crap won’t work on me, kid.” The man growled. 

Tobio wrinkled his nose, “I’m serious. Think about it, dumbass.” 

When the man was about to respond, Tobio had never been so thankful to hear his brother’s voice. 

“Tobio? What’re you doing?” 

The power on Tobio started to weaken and he pushed the man off, running up the hill and to stand behind Shigeo. 

Shigeo glanced behind his back to see his younger brother shakened up. His maroon eyes went back to the man who was standing below them. He can feel that person’s aura radiate something mean. Shigeo completely shielded Tobio. 

“Excuse me, but who are you and what did you do to my brother?” 

The man scratched his cheek. “We’re just talking. Until you butted in. Pretty rude of you to have done that.”

Tobio pulled at Shigeo’s hem of his uniform. “Let’s go.” Tobio whispered, urging his brother to follow him.

Shigeo gave this man a long hard stare and pulled his brother next to him. 

“Tobio.” 

The blue-eyed boy turned to Shigeo. 

“Who was that guy?” Shigeo asked. 

Tobio shrugged. “I don’t know. Some random esper.” 

“Did he ask you anything?” 

“He asked if I had powers. I told him I didn’t, but he thought I was lying.”  
  
“Did he say anything else?” 

“He talked about defeating the seventh division of CLAW, something like that. Said something about turning me in to their boss. I think he mistaken me for you or Ritsu-nii. He was positive I had powers. Nii-san, did you and Ritsu fight this CLAW?” 

Shigeo nodded. 

“...Was it that time you said Reigen-san needed you and Ritsu for a case then you came home really late?” 

“Yes.”   
  
Tobio didn’t know the whole story, but he gets a little bit of it. His brothers probably went on some crazy trip with Reigen and that’s why they came home late, bruised and disheveled. If that’s the case, then Tobio doesn’t need to know the rest. But if his brothers want to talk to him about it, he’ll listen. 

“That man didn’t hurt you did he?”

“He just held onto my shoulder. It doesn’t hurt so I don’t think it’ll bruise. How’d you know I was there?” 

“I was helping a girl from my school and when I was headed home, I saw you and the guy.”  
  
“Oh, so it was a coincidence then.” Tobio figured out. 

“Tobio, please be careful when you’re outside.”

“Yes, nii-san. Oh yeah,” Tobio ruffled into his plastic bag and tossed the milk box to his brother. “I bought you one. I drank the other. I have more, so if you want, it’ll be in the fridge.” 

“Thanks, Tobio.” 

  
  
  
  


“Shige-nii, what are you doing here?” Tobio tilted his head, wiping the sweat from the side of his jaw. He was at the gates of Tobio’s elementary school. He finished volleyball practice at six forty-five and walked home by himself, occasionally stopping at the store to buy snacks. He doesn’t mind the lonely trek home at all. Tobio just wondered why the heck would Shigeo walk all the way from Salt Middle School to Cajun Elementary School, which is basically the opposite direction and a much farther walk. 

“I don’t think it’s safe for you to be walking by yourself for now. May I carry your bags?” Shigeo offered.

“Are you sure? It’s pretty heavy. Sensei gave us lots of homework today.” 

“It’s fine. I need to build stamina, so this is a good way to see how long I can carry heavy stuff.” The older Kageyama carried his own bag and his little brother’s backpack. They began to walk. 

It was a peaceful silence. Just the sound of the gentle wind and the rustling of the trees they passed by. Tobio looked to his left and pulled Shigeo’s sleeve. 

“N-Nii-san. Cat!” 

It was a grey cat at the corner of the sidewalk. The two boys walked over to it and kneeled before it. Shigeo let out his hand and the cat nestled her head onto his palm. It let out a small ‘mew’. The grey cat with blue eyes was small. Not malnourished from the looks of it, she was probably fed from the garbage or those who took pity on her. 

Tobio wanted to touch the cat. He really wanted to. But he had some experiences with cats that were particularly nasty to him. He would always get scratched and bitten, hissed and glared at. He’s content at observing the cute cat. 

“Don’t you want to pet her, Tobio?” Shigeo asked, his head turned to his little brother. 

He shook his head and stared silently. 

When they stood and were about to turn away, the cat nudged her body against Shigeo’s ankle and ‘mew'd. They began to walk and the cat was determined to follow Shigeo. 

They kept on walking, hopefully thinking the cat would get bored and go away. As they entered the store and bought snacks, the cat was patiently waiting outside and let out a cute sound. 

They walked and walked and walked. The cat followed. 

“Nii-san. The cat is still following you. Do you think we can take her home?” 

Shigeo hummed. “I’m not sure.”  
  
“Please?”

“That’s up to mom.”

“But we both know mom will say no.” 

“Then we can hide her.”

Oh. That’s an idea. 

“Mom rarely comes into my room so I can hide her in mine. In the next store we pass by, we can buy cat food.” Shigeo proposed. 

Tobio stared at his older brother with admiration. Shigeo is so kind. And he’s smart too, he just doesn’t give himself enough credit. Tobio nodded and when they came by the store, they bought cat food in a can. 

Once they got home, they were in the clear. Ritsu was probably in his room and Dad was still at work. Mom could be out buying groceries. 

They immediately went into Shigeo’s room, bringing the cat with them. Though, the cat looked uncomfortable. 

She kept pacing back and forth. 

“I wonder what’s wrong with her.”  
  
“Maybe she’s more of an outdoor cat then an inside cat. There are some cats that prefer staying outside since they feel most comfortable there.” Going down the stairs, they went into their backyard and the grey cat looked less stressed. She stretched and padded the grass. 

“Where is she going to sleep?” 

“That’s up to her. She can sleep in the bushes if she wants. It’s safe and there’s shade. I’ll get the cat some water and food.” 

Tobio knelt down and had a staring contest with the cat. The cat had bright blue eyes. Like gems. It’s pretty. Tobio really wanted to pet her. But he doesn’t want to disinfect a cut again. So he stayed there staring at her. She stared back. He pondered. Maybe she’s thinking of something. Cats think right? Cats are careful and they’re sharp. Both in personality and claws. Hopefully she’s thinking of staying here. 

Shigeo came from behind and laid down the bowl of water and had opened the small can of cat food. The grey cat perked its ears and tail and hopped towards Shigeo, nipping at the food and licking the water. 

“Can we name her?” Tobio asked, turning to his older brother. 

“What do you want to name her?”

“Me?”

“You found her first. I think you should name her.” 

“Oh...Uhm...Gem?”

“Gem? Ah, is it cause of her eyes? They do shine rather brightly.” 

Gem meows and at the corner of their house was a flower bush, not a rose bush, but a flower bush that sprouted small purple flowers. Tobio and Shigeo forgot what they’re called but they die at night and come back to life in the morning. There was a small opening to see her and her bright eyes as she circles for a moment and lays down, curled up like a fluffball. 

Shigeo moved the bowl of water next to the opening of the bush and dusted himself. “Let’s go back inside. Before Mom comes back.” 

Tobio followed Shigeo back inside. 

  
  
  


Tobio slouched in his seat, glaring down at his classmate. His classmate returned the gesture. 

“You think you’re so great, just cause you’re good at volleyball. But that’s the only thing you’re good at. Everything else, friends, school, you’re bad at. No one wants to be your friend.” He spat out, rubbing at his bleeding nose. 

Tobio was proud that he was able to swing a few punches and kicks at him. Though in return, he got a bruise on his temple and a split lip. 

“Everyone hates you. They think you’re too bossy, too stupid.”  
  
Tobio begs to differ. During gym class, some of the guys wanted him to play setter for their game. 

“I could say the same for you, dumbass.” Tobio hissed. 

“Why you-!” He grabbed the collar of Tobio’s gym shirt and they both growled at each other. 

“Boys! That’s enough! I called your parents and they’re on their way here. Don’t make me extend your punishment.” The principal barked at them. Tobio’s classmate let go of his collar and crossed his arms. 

Tobio’s parents came in right after his classmate’s discussion with his parents finished. Tobio sat in the middle, looking down, averting the gaze of his furious mother. 

“Kageyama-kun had an altercation with his classmate of his during P.E class and left some nasty bruises on him. I got both sides of their stories and it’s only fair that from what I’ve been told from Kageyama-kun and this classmate of his, along with a few other witnesses, that Kageyama-kun will only receive three days suspencion. This is his first strike. But according to his history, he’s been in a few heated arguments and small altercations with other students. And in such a small time. Luckily, the teachers were on standby to stop them before things got too serious. For example, a year ago, Kageyama-kun kicked an upper class student, in turn, made him fall. There was no concussion. Kageyama-kun, is there something you’d like to tell me? To your parents?” 

Tobio crossed his arms and sank in his chair. “It’s not my fault.”

“Kageyama-kun, you always initiated the first hit.”  
  
“It’s because people are dumbasses!” Tobio shouted. 

“Tobio!” His mother snapped. His dad placed a hand on Tobio’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. 

The principal adjusted her glasses and there was shine on them. “I’ll be talking with the teachers to write down their assignments for Kageyama-kun.”  
  
His parents stood up and bowed. His parents waited outside the gates as Tobio changed into his clothes and grabbed his bag. 

_“Without volleyball, you’re nothing but a loser.”_

Tobio scoffed. What does that dumbass know? Nothing. He’s just a nuisance. Probably can’t play volleyball right, that’s why he said it. Probably jealous of Tobio. 

Tobio doesn’t pay attention to his class. He doesn’t pay attention to his classmates. He just stares at the blackboard. He was in his own world. He hopes he didn’t miss anything during those three days. Maybe he can catch up today. 

He sat in lunch. Not knowing he was sitting alone, he continued to eat his food. Unbeknownst to him, a few of the students in other classes whispered between each other. 

Let’s make this clear. Tobio was an average student. He had some girls crush on him here and there, his teammates respected him, and some people looked up to him. 

But Tobio realized this a long time ago. 

He doesn’t have friends. 

Not like he cared. He has his brothers and volleyball, so that’s just enough for him. He has teammates, but that didn’t mean they were close. Tobio doesn’t go out with them after practice, he goes home. Then he plays volleyball with Ritsu. 

“Kageyama-kun does look pretty mean. What if he picks a fight with me?” A boy whispers to his friend. 

_“Kiyama got into a fight with Kageyama a few days ago. I wonder what it was about.”_

_“I was there! Kiyama shouted that Kageyama was a loser because he has no friends.”_

_  
_   
_“Speaking of friends...when was the last time we’ve even seen Kageyama with someone else?”_

_“Isn’t he friends with the volleyball club?”_

_“I heard that Kageyama isn’t that close with the volleyball club members. He just goes straight home. Doesn’t even hang out with them.”_

_“He sleeps in class._ _”_

_  
  
“He’s always glaring. Scary!”_

_“He’s too focused on volleyball.”_

_“He’s probably a loner.”_

_“Talk about loser, haha.”_

_“I wonder what he’s thinking about? He’s wearing that scary face.”_

Tobio sat there, making a plan on how to befriend Gem. Maybe if he offered her food, she would like him. But last time he offered food to the cat, it just scratched him. Maybe offering milk? Cats like milk. He likes milk. Doesn’t that mean they should get along? Why don’t cats like him? 

To the other students, Tobio turned around and he snarled, brow furrowed and blue eyes unhappy. A shiver went down other people’s spines as they turned away and their whispers hushed. 

  
  


  
  


Ritsu knows something is up. Shigeo went out for a job with Reigen and Tobio has been going home rather angry lately. 

Shigeo and Tobio skipped dinner. 

Shigeo skipped dinner but Tobio sat at the table with an intense glare on his face. 

Shigeo skipped dinner. 

Shigeo skipped dinner. 

Tobio didn’t want to play volleyball with Ritsu anymore. 

Shigeo skipped dinner. 

Tobio was suspended again. 

Shigeo skipped dinner. 

Tobio was on suspension from the volleyball club. 

One at a time. Ritsu texted Shigeo that he’ll be the one picking Tobio up from school. Ritsu waited at the gates as he watched Tobio come closer to him. 

He didn’t look happy. 

He hasn’t been looking happy for the past week. 

During their walk, Ritsu spoke up, “If you want to talk to me about something, you can. I’m here to listen.” 

Tobio’s hands were shoved in his hoodie. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “I don’t know.” 

“I’ve heard from mom that you’ve been getting in trouble lately.”   
  
Tobio shrugged. “Yeah…”

“Is there anything happening at school?”

“Just the usual, I guess. People being dumbasses.” Tobio muttered. 

Ritsu was surprised with the curse coming out of his little brother’s mouth. Ritsu tries to watch his mouth around his little brother and older brother. Did Tobio learn that in school? 

“Ah. Right. People do tend to be dumbasses. What do they do?” 

“They talk too much. They’re annoying.”   
  
“What do they talk about?”

Tobio didn’t respond. 

“I don’t know what’s going on. But you can tell me. I won’t get mad at you. I won’t tell mom and dad. I don’t have to tell Shigeo or Saitama. It’s just us.” Ritsu assured, smiling softly as his brother fidgeted. 

“Some...Some dumbass said some stuff. Picked a fight with me. Then said some other stuff about me to other people and people are starting to believe it and talk behind my back. Even-Even my teammates don’t want me to play with them.” 

Ritsu felt a twinge of anger and annoyance. Who’s trying to pick a fight with Tobio? He knows he’s been getting into trouble, but he wouldn’t do it without reason. Not unless someone provokes him or annoys him entirely. He breathed in and then out. “Did you talk to this dumbass about it? To stop spreading rumors?” 

“It won’t work. He just said that no one will care about some obsessed volleyball loser. That I’m just one scary looking freak.”

Tobio sighed once again. “I want to move in with grandpa.” 

“That guy, the one being a dumbass to you, is just jealous of you.”  
  
“What’s there to be jealous of? I don’t have good grades, I don’t have friends, and people don’t like me.” 

“That dumbass was jealous because you held out so long.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Tobio raised a brow. 

“You were able to ignore him and when he stepped over the line, you were able to fight back. You won’t go down without a fight. You’re pretty strong and he knows that rumors aren’t enough to tear you down. I admire that about you, not caring what others think of you.”  
  
“But...But what if I’m not that anymore? Will you still admire me?”

“I’ll still admire you no matter what. You’re willing to catch up to anything so you won’t be a step behind. I think that’s pretty strong of you, Tobio.” Ritsu smiled and ruffled the younger’s hair. 

It was hesitant, but Ritsu saw a smile on Tobio’s face. 

  
  
  
  


“Nii-san, I’m coming in.” Ritsu opened Shigeo’s door with a plate of food in his hand. Shigeo was sitting against his futon, staring at his phone. 

Ritsu sat across from him and laid the plate on the wooden floor. “Mom, dad, and Tobio are finished eating. I came here to bring you food.” 

It was still steaming hot. Pork Katsu curry with rice. 

Shigeo was still staring at his phone. 

“Nii-san?” Ritsu called out. 

Shigeo didn’t budge. 

“Nii-san!” Ritsu placed his hand on Shigeo’s shoulder and shook it lightly.   
  
Shigeo blinked and focused his eyes on Ritsu. 

“Oh. Ritsu. When did you come in?” Shigeo asked softly. 

Ritsu shot a worried look at him. “I’ve called out to you a few times, but you didn’t answer.”   
  
“Oh…” 

Ritsu bit the bullet. “You haven’t been eating. I don’t think I’ve even seen you eat breakfast.”  
  
He shrugged lazily. “I’m just not hungry.” 

“Not being hungry for a week is not good. I know something’s on your mind. I want to know why.” Ritsu asserted. 

“It’s nothing important.” Shigeo mumbled. 

“But it is important, Shige. If what you’re thinking has this much of an impact on you, then you need to talk about it. Please.” Ritsu held onto Shigeo’s hand. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. I don’t want you to get hurt. Please eat.” 

Shigeo stared at his brother, emotions blurred and unread. “Have you...ever thought about something, that makes you feel sick to your stomach?” 

Ritsu furrowed his brow. 

Shigeo continued, “Cause I have. For a while. Everytime I think about trying to eat, it makes me want to throw up.” 

“But Shige-”  
  
“And I know I should be eating. It’s like-like I can’t.” He gulped. “I have to eat. I need to. But I can’t.” 

Ritsu grasped Shigeo’s hand. “I know I shouldn’t push you on this. You can eat little by little, and if you don’t want to eat anymore, that’s okay. I don’t want you to push yourself anymore than you have too. But you need to eat something.” 

Shigeo looked down at the food and picked up his plate. Digging the spoon into the rice and curry, he brought it to his mouth and ate it. Slipping the spoon out of his mouth, he chewed slowly, pushing away those macabre, disturbing thoughts, and swallowed it. 

He did it again. 

And again.

And again. 

And again. 

By his sixth spoonful, he stopped midchew, and quickly swallowed it, along with the bile that crawled up his throat. 

“Do you want milk?”

“No. No. I don’t. I don’t want milk.” 

“Then I’ll get water. You did good, Nii-san. If you don’t want to eat, you don’t have to. I can take the plate if you’re finished.” Shigeo nodded and gave the plate to Ritsu. 

Ritsu went down the stairs as quickly as he could and went back up with a glass of water in his hand. 

“Nii-san I have the...Nii-san?” He stood in front of his door and Shigeo was nowhere to be found. 

Then he heard retching. 

Ritsu dropped the glass on the floor and ran to the bathroom, pressing his ear onto the door and sure enough, it was his brother throwing up. 

He jiggled the doorknob but it was locked. He knocked furiously. _“Nii-san?!”_

Ritsu sat against the door, waiting silently, patiently, for Shigeo to open the door. All he heard was wheezes and sobs. A flush. Then the faucet running. Shigeo was brushing his teeth. 

“Nii-san? Can you open the door?” 

Nothing. 

“Whatever is going on, I’m here for you. I’ll help you. I love you.” 

Another sob. 

“Tobio loves you. I know he doesn’t show it, but when you talk about yourself in the Body Improvement Club, he has this look on his face. We love how you constantly want to improve yourself because it makes you feel happy and good. When Saitama heard what you were doing, he couldn’t help but shout his support through the phone. We think you’re awesome.”   
  
A heavy heave. 

“Mom and dad love you. Although mom scolds you, she just wants the best for you. Dad always sticks up for you and tries to make you laugh.” 

…

“Please open the door, Nii-san.” 

The doorknob unlocks. Ritsu gets up. Shigeo stands with his head down and quiet tears running down his face. He bites on his lip, trying to not sob anymore. 

Ritsu doesn’t hesitate to pull his older brother in a hug. Shigeo slowly brings his hands to Ritsu’s shoulder, holding tight, almost painful. But Ritsu doesn’t care. Shigeo’s here. Ritsu’s here. It’s going to be okay. 

“I wanted to die. I wanted to die but I couldn’t because I was scared. They-They kept hurting me even when I told them to stop.” Shigeo cries into Ritsu’s shoulder. Ritsu doesn’t know what happened to him but he felt protective over Shigeo. “No one was there. You weren’t there. Tobio wasn’t there. Mom, dad, Reigen, weren’t there. I was alone. I was-” Ritsu holds his brother up, running his hand through his brother’s hair. 

“I was so alone.” 

“You’re not alone anymore, Shigeo. I’m here. Everyone who loves you is here. Remember? No matter what, I’m by your side.” 

They stood like that for a good thirty minutes until Shigeo calmed down. Ritsu helped Shigeo to his bedroom, and using his powers, he cleaned up the broken glass and water spilt. As it levitated, Shigeo put down his futon and sat down. 

When Ritsu came back up, Shigeo had a blanket wrapped around himself. He sat next to Shigeo. 

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” 

And Shigeo does. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0-100 REAL quick. Angst chapter BuCKle iN

Shigeo and Ritsu were by the gates. Tobio ran to them. He hugged them tight. 

“Tobio…” Ritsu placed a hand on his head.   
  
“Are you okay?” Shigeo laid his hand on Tobio’s shoulder. 

It’s been a rough day. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Doesn’t want to think. Tobio buried himself between his older brothers. Then stood back.

“I’m fine.” 

Shigeo and Ritsu looked at each other and didn’t push Tobio to say anymore. Shigeo carried Tobio’s bag. 

“Shige-nii, aren’t you usually working?” 

“Reigen said some things that I didn’t appreciate and I realized that not everything he says is true.” Shigeo replied. 

Wow. Shigeo must be really mad at Reigen. For Shigeo to say his name but not Shishou? Must be pissed. “Oh. Good for you.” 

“How was volleyball practice?” Ritsu asked. 

Tobio’s mood shifted. “It’s whatever.” 

“And the students?”

“Still dumbasses.” 

Shigeo’s brows raised a bit. Then he looked at Ritsu. Ritsu did speak profanities now and then, unlike Saitama who’s speaking it almost 24 hours. Ritsu raised his hands slightly and shook his head. 

“Oh. Sorry, Shige-nii.” 

“Mmm. That’s okay. Did something happen in school?” 

“Nothing. Nothing happened.” 

Ritsu stopped. Shigeo and Tobio looked at Ritsu, curious. “Tobio, if someone said something to you, or did anything, you can tell us.”

Tobio shifted uncomfortably. “Just...Talked to those dumbasses. I think I made it worse.” 

“What happened.” 

He scratched the back of his neck. “I punched them. And kicked them.” 

“What? Are they hurting you?” Shigeo held onto Tobio’s shoulder. 

“I-” 

“Do you want me to talk to them?” Ritsu wore a scary glare. 

“No, I-” 

“Should we tell mom and dad?” Shigeo asked softly. 

“No! No. Don’t tell mom and dad. I can handle this on my own.” Tobio bit. 

“It’s okay if you can’t. We’re here by your side if you need us.” Shigeo patted Tobio’s hair. 

“S-Shige-nii! I’m fine, really! I don’t want you guys to talk to them, I don’t want you to tell mom or dad.” 

“Why don’t you tell your teacher?” Ritsu piped in. 

Tobio scratched his arm. “They’ll just make it worse. I’ll probably even get expelled. Teachers don’t like me, so I guess if I tell them, they’ll think I’ve started the fight, which isn’t wrong, I always do. And if the principal hears, then they’ll call mom and she’ll be mad at me. I don’t want her to be mad.” 

“Tobio, mom will be mad, but not at you. She’ll understand.” Shigeo responded. 

“She was mad last time. What if it’s not any different?” Tobio muttered. 

“If you explain what happened, she’ll believe you.” 

Tobio doesn’t tell their mom. 

Tobio pushed the cat food in front of Gem and watched her take her time eating it. Sitting on the ground, knees pulled to his chest, he stared at the grey kitten. 

“I don’t want to worry my brothers.” Tobio said to Gem. Gem kept eating. 

“I don’t want mom to be mad at me.” He started picking at the grass. 

“I can’t tell the teachers.” The grass flew through his fingers into the wind. 

“People won’t look at me. They say I’m scary.” He pulled at the grass. 

“My teammates won’t serve to me.” 

Gem finished her food and looked up at Tobio. She meows. 

“If I tell Ritsu and Shigeo, they’ll probably tell off those dumbasses and they’ll...they’ll start annoying me more. Everyone will. I know it.” He grumbled. 

Gem mew’d. 

“I don’t know what to do. If I keep fighting and one of the teachers finds out, I’m sure to get expelled. I can’t ignore them either…” 

_Mew_

“I could call Saitama-nii and ask him how to deal in this situation. What can he do, miles away from Seasoning City? He can’t do anything!” Tobio convinced himself. 

Tobio pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed up his oldest brother.

“Wassup, lil bro?” 

“Uhm, Aniki, what were to happen if someone was talking bad about you _to_ you?” 

“I’d punch their frickin’ teeth in.” Saitama responded, probably shaking a fist. 

_Ah. Of course._

“Is there someone who’s being annoying, Tobes?” 

“N-No.” 

“You’re a shit liar.” 

“Am not!” 

“Tobes, who’s being a punk to you?”

“No one! I’m just asking!” He insisted. 

“Do you want me to come over there and scare the hell outta those kids?” 

“No!” 

“Does Ritsu and Shigeo know about this?”

“...Kinda. Just- Can- Ugh. Look, no one’s bothering me, I’m asking because- because my friend has been going through a lot lately. He’s been...been suspended a few times and the teachers don’t like him. The kids think he’s scary looking because he doesn’t smile and there are these dumbass kids that keep annoying him when I- when he’s around. I don’t know how to help him.” 

“He sounds like he’s in a tight situation. Does his parents know? Maybe they can pull him out of that school. Sounds like these kids are nothing but brats.”

“His parents don’t know. He doesn’t want his mom to get angry with him. And it’s his last year in this school and I...I don’t want to leave him alone.” 

“I’m sure his mother would understand and try to talk to the principal about it. They can solve the issue."

“You don’t understand! Adults make everything worse. They’ll just say a few words and then think the problem is solved. Then those dumbasses will start to annoy m-him even more. He knows it. I know it.”

“What do those kids do to him?”

“They talk bad about him. They talk behind his back. Talk is everywhere. It’s like they want to get punched. Maybe it’s because they can go running to a teacher and pin it on him. They’re like a cicada. No matter how much he ignores it, it’s still chirping. And they always pull on his hair and shirt. Then talk about his family. It’s,” Tobio grips his phone, “It’s so damn annoying!” He shouted, startling Gem. 

“Hmmm. These kids do sound like trouble. Well, listen closely, Tobio.” 

Tobio pressed the phone to his ear. 

“What these kids are doing? Nothing but childish schemes, trying to get under your- I mean, _his_ skin and get a reaction from him and you. You have to remember, whose opinion is more important? These kids with nothing better to do or the ones that he cares about? Is this gossip they’re talking about relevant to his life? People will be mean and pick on others because they don’t understand them at all. Just ignore them.”   
  
“Okay-”

“-But if they _really_ cross over the line, make sure to throw in a good punch. If you want to start a fight, you better throw the first punch, make it a good one. You know how to throw a punch, right?” 

“Yes, Aniki.” Tobio nodded. 

“Good, good.”  
  
“Aniki?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t tell Shigeo or Ritsu about this.” 

There was a sigh at his end. “Alright. My lips are sealed.” 

“Thanks.” 

  
  
  
  


Tobio stared at the television. 

_“You’ve grown up so much. You know that?”_

Reigen smiled at the camera. 

The reporters were feisty, demanding a proper answer from the man and all of a sudden, the camera moved violently. Pencils, cameras, microphones, they started to float up and an earthquake shook the entire building. 

“This is getting serious…” Ritsu muttered. He got up from the floor and ran up to Shigeo’s room, calling him out. 

Tobio sipped on his milk and continued watching. 

Shigeo came home. His face, still blank as ever, but with a tiny crinkle at his eyes. 

“You seem happy, Nii-san.” Ritsu noted. 

“It’s just been a good day, that’s all.” 

  
  
  
  
  


Shigeo’s house is being burnt down to the ground. It’s engulfed in orange and yellow flames, black plumes of smoke trailing up into the sky. He stood there, mouth open and eyes widened. Closing it, he grit his teeth as he walked in, screams of his neighbors filling the accompanied crackle of the fire. 

Shigeo thought to himself. His parents were here, Ritsu came home right after the marathon. Tobio was at volleyball camp. All of them were responsible and they were careful with what they did. 

_How could this happen?_

He closed another door, empty, but not. Hungry flames licked every corner of the room. 

Dimple floated above Shigeo, “There were signs of a struggle at the door! Someone forced their way inside!” 

“Someone did this? Does that mean someone could have taken them? I-I have to look for clues!” Shigeo turned to the nearest door and once he opened it, smoke rolled in and there were bodies.

 _Bodies_.

Flames circled Shigeo, the more he stared, the more emotions filled the room, his his aura was starting to even suffocate himself but he could care less because _his family is_ -

“Shigeo, wait! Remain calm!” Dimple shouted. 

Shigeo glared at the ghost. 

Dimple flinched. “I can tell these aren’t real bodies! These are dummies! Some esper put them there to fool you!” 

“Does a psychic power like that really exist?”

“It’s completely possible! I know it’s out there!” 

Shigeo uses his telepathy aura location to pinpoint any espers nearby and quickly flees to follow them. 

  
  
  
  
  


Now knowing that his parents are safe, he wonders about Shigeo. 

“I set off a fuse. If he is going to act on it, then we’ll be a step ahead.” Shou says. 

“That’s not a good idea.” Ritsu glared at the redhead. 

“Can’t hurt to try.” 

Ritsu pulls out his phone to see a text from Tobio. He’s lucky that his volleyball club had to have a few nights off at a practice camp. 

If only Shigeo can answer his phone too. 

  
  
  
  


After that entire world domination fiasco, then the explosion and the surprised broccoli, everything is back to normal. Their house is in one piece, their parents don’t suspect anything out of place, and things are just the way it is. 

“Isn’t Tobio coming home today?” Their dad asks from the couch. 

“I hope his mood lightened. He’s been so off the past few weeks. But when the volleyball club mentioned a camp, Tobio seemed happy. I hope he continues to be happy.” Their mother hoped, placing the bowl of rice down.

“Do you want us to pick him up?” Ritsu offered. 

“Seeing you boys will make his mood lighter. Just make sure to be home before dinner starts.” 

Ritsu and Shigeo walked the way to Cajun Elementary School. When they got there, they went into the school and checked in with one of the teachers that chaperoned the camp. 

“Kageyama? He left already.” The teacher said.   
  
Huh? What do you mean he left already? If he did, then they would have seen each other. There’s only one route home. Maybe he stopped by the store to buy snacks. That’s why they didn’t see him. 

Thanking the teachers, they walked back. 

“I’m gonna call him.” Ritsu takes out his phone and starts dialing Tobio. 

On their way, the boys heard a ring. 

That familiar ringing. 

That’s Tobio’s ringtone. 

His phone was on the side of the street. His screen cracked. 

“Why is Tobio’s phone here?” Shigeo thought out loud. 

“Maybe he dropped it.” Ritsu shrugged. 

They opened the door to their house, figuring that Tobio was upstairs. Their mom called for them and they responded. Dinner rolled around and Kagemama called for everyone to come to the table. 

But one seat was empty. 

“Where’s Tobio?” Their mother had her hands on her hips. 

“He’s probably upstairs. Sleeping, probably.” Shigeo suggested. 

“Wake him up, will you, Ritsu?” Their dad asked. 

Ritsu nodded and walked to the stairs. When he knocked on the door, no one answered. Announcing his arrival, the lights were off. 

“Tobio, wake up.” Ritsu flicked the lights on and his eyes stared at the empty bedroom. 

He rushed to the bathroom and slammed the door open. 

Running down the stairs and to the living room, he looked around and Tobio was nowhere to be found. Then he frantically rushed outside. 

Tobio is not here.

_Tobio is not_ **_here_ ** _._

“Ritsu? Does Tobio not want to eat?” His mother called out. 

He swallowed the lump in his throat. It felt dry. Scratchy. Returning to the dining room, he said something that made his family’s blood go cold.

_“Tobio’s not home.”_

  
  
  
  


Their parents immediately filed a report. There’s no other places that Tobio should have gone. There’s only school, convenience store, home. He doesn’t go to the park alone, he doesn’t go to restaurants alone, and he doesn’t go to any friends houses. There was no use in calling Tobio since his phone was already with them and calling the school was futile since the teacher already said that they checked off Tobio and saw him leave school grounds. 

The Kageyama brothers contacted the people close to them to keep an eye for their baby brother. After school, Shigeo would be excused from the Body Improvement Club and work to look for Tobio. 

He can’t have wandered far. He rarely goes into the city. If he were, it was because they sold his favorite volleyball brand. The Kageyama parents checked the restaurants that Tobio liked to go to every once in a while or to sports stores. Ritsu would come by Tobio’s school to see if he would still turn up while Shigeo was at the office with Reigen making missing posters. 

Dimple was away for a while, scanning every neighborhood and asking other specters if they saw a boy with black hair with a fringe and blue eyes. 

Then Shigeo noticed that Gem, the grey cat that was always in the bushes, was gone. Tobio and Gem are both gone. 

Three days.

Tobio has been missing for three days. 

_Where could he be?_

  
  
  
  


It was hot. Too hot. It was uncomfortable. 

Yet Tobio was determined to remove the second bar that guarded the window. He grunted and dug the sharp end of the pipe into the popcorn wall. 

“Yosh.” Just as he was about to remove the bar, footsteps were echoing and Tobio hid the pipe and moved swiftly back into the corner of the wall, protecting his bag. 

“My little Tobio! Have you awakened your powers yet?” 

Blue eyes glared daggers at the teenager who smiled sickly sweet at the boy. 

“Aw, don’t give me that look! I just want to have fun with you! You’re so boring. Say, want to play with me?” 

Tobio said nothing. 

“No? Nothing to say? Suit yourself. Just,” A dark glint in his eyes shimmered, “Make sure to _scream_ .”   
  


Tobio wheezed slowly as he felt something sharp inside his chest sit very uncomfortable with him. 

He put on his backpack on his front and crawled up the crates, shaking the loose bar and finally removing it. He opened the window and crawled out. 

It hurt. His body aches. He’s starving. 

But he needs to push through. He’s almost home. He knows where he is. 

He gulped down whatever doubts he had and ran. 

This sharp pain made him want to stop and throw up but he can’t, he can’t, he won’t. Not now.

 _‘One more block,’_ he tells himself, ‘ _one more block.’_

One block turns into five, which turns into ten. 

He’s in a crowd. That’s good. It’s great. He calms himself and drags himself _home_. 

_‘One more block.’_

“Oof.” Tobio bumps into a stranger. 

A scrawny man with a brown fedora looks down on him. “There you are, Kageyama-kun.” 

Tobio looks up and his fingers curl. 

“You’re coming back with me.” 

Tobio dodges the scrawny man’s hand and runs as fast he can.   
  
_It hurts it hurts it hurts_

Tobio curves to the nearest alley and slumps against the wall. The bag moved a bit and out popped a grey cat. 

“Hey, Gem.” Tobio whispers. The cat mews and nuzzles against Tobio’s chest. “Almost there. We’re almost home.” 

Her ears perked and looked to her right, pupils sharpened and hissing. Tobio turns and holds his breath. 

The man is staring him down. 

Tobio stands up too quickly and his side makes him want to scream, but he bites down on his lip. He moves to the back of the alley, the fence clanging against his skin. 

“You can’t run anymore, Kageyama-kun. Face it, you’re vulnerable.” 

Gritting his teeth, he gently pushed Gem down into his bag and buttoned it down. 

Then the scrawny man’s phone rings. He picks it up. “What is it?” He asks in a flat voice. “Kill him? Are you sure?” 

Tobio’s pulse spikes. 

“If you say so.” Ending the call, he put the phone back into his back pocket and blinked. 

“Lucky for you, we don’t need you anymore. Letting them find your body is enough for them to show themselves.” He said. 

His psychic powers turned into three balls, he pushed them towards Tobio and they slashed against the fence, creating slits. 

Tobio expected to die. 

To be in intense pain. 

He heard a yowl. 

He looked at either side of him and there were medium sized slits. 

But when he looked down, what he saw in front of him was Gem and her grey body matted with a dark red liquid in her fur as her eyes were closed. 

He could hear her labored breaths. 

“Gem?” Tobio squeaked. 

The scrawny esper tilted his head. “Oh. Your cat saved you. Pity. Hm. Whatever. Die.” 

Tobio took a shot and ducked down, punching the man in the gut and biting his forearm until he tasted iron. 

The man yelped and with his other hand, he swiped up at Tobio’s face with a sharp aura coating his hand and blood spattered on the concrete. 

That swipe managed to knock Tobio unconscious and bleeding heavily. 

“You’ll just die of blood loss. Ugh, got blood on myself. Oh well.” The scrawny man bowed his fedora and turned away, leaving the bleeding child and cat to waste away. 

As the man exited out of the alley, he bumped into a middle schooler with blond spiky hair. 

“Sorry.” The man muttered.

“It’s fine.” The blond assured, scanning up and down at the man and took notice of how horrible his fashion sense is, especially that little silver beetle brooch on his sweater vest. Then he saw specks of red dotted on the cloth. 

The blond boy, Hanazawa Teruki, raised a brow and saw the odd man go on his way. Checking the alley, he heard a loud mew. 

_‘A cat! Maybe sending Kageyama-kun a picture of a cat will cheer him up.’_

Going deeper into the alleyway, his nostrils tingling. That...smells like blood. Eyes widening, he grit his teeth and inhaled sharply.

Before him, a boy laid on the ground chest flat with a small puddle of blood seeped from his head into the cracks of the ground along with a corpse of a cat laying near him, a blade like slit from it’s throat down to it’s stomach. 

Pulling out his phone, he dialed the ambulance, speaking to the operator, saying that he’s still breathing and is being told that they’re on the way. A blue backpack caught his eye and he tried not to step on the blood. Pulling out a folder, he checked the nametag and Hanazawa froze. 

_Oh no._

He called Shigeo. 

“Kageyama-kun. I found your brother.” 

  
  
  


\-------

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sorry.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looks like the Kageyama bros about to yeet these mofos to space. Bout to go sicko mode :v

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tobio : *gets fucked up* 
> 
> Shigeo and Ritsu : So you choose death?

Hana was sobbing in her husband's arms as he rubbed circles on her back. 

When they heard Hanazawa had found Tobio in an alleyway, they rushed to the hospital and waited hours during the surgery to hear good news from the doctor. 

“Little Tobio had three broken ribs on the left side and one cracked rib on the right. He fractured his wrist and also obtained a minor concussion. Everything will heal accordingly, but the scar on the right side of his face has given him permanent blindness. It’ll be difficult, but thankfully, Tobio’s fighting hard.”

Kagemama cried in relief, her husband wearing a tired smile. 

When Tobio was still sleeping, Shigeo and Ritsu visited their baby brother. He was bandaged on the right side of his face and the dark bruises and pink cuts on his arms and face contrasted to his pale skin.

A cat meows. 

A glowing white-grey aura manifests and sits soundly next to Tobio. Ritsu was about to exorcise the ghost until Shigeo lowered his younger brother’s hand and stepped closer to the small ghost. 

He recognized those eyes. 

“Hello, Gem.” The ghost of the cat purred against Shigeo’s warm hand and her tail curled. 

  
  
  


The next day, Shigeo asks Dimple to come with him to the hospital. 

Ritsu and Shigeo watched as the green blob held a conversation with the ghost cat. Dimple nods in understanding after Gem finishes talking(?) to him, nuzzling herself next to Tobio’s arm. 

“What did Gem say, Dimple?” Shigeo asked. 

“There were these espers that kidnapped him when he was on his way home. The cat was able to get a good look at those that encountered Tobio. Two women, one teenage boy and two men. They were ex-CLAW members. The teenage brat was the reason for those bruises and broken ribs and fractured wrist while a thin man wearing a brown fedora was responsible for cutting up his face and killing her. A man with the black hood was the one that wanted to kidnap the kid alive. All of a sudden, they wanted Tobio dead, probably because he was a witness.” 

Ritsu bared his teeth, fists tightening that his nails dug into his palms. 

“But why would they want Tobio?” Shigeo’s face is unreadable. Though the tone of his voice was lowered dangerously.

“Those bastards wanted to use Tobio to get to you two.” 

This was too much. Defeating a powerful leader that wanted world domination is different to having one of your family members kidnapped, beaten, and injured. Shigeo and Ritsu lived through it once. The devastation of having Ritsu taken from him right in front of his eyes and Ritsu trying to survive against his captors. 

But to their baby brother? 

Their baby brother who wanted to play volleyball and spend time with them? 

Little Tobio that wanted no part in these psychic powers, was dragged into this situation. 

“Tobio had no part in this. Why him?” Ritsu hissed. 

Why Tobio? 

“Unforgivable.” The older Kageyama muttered. 

“What?” 

“Unforgivable. First Ritsu, now Tobio?” The atmosphere turned heavy, the air thick and hard to breathe, the chairs and table wavering a few inches off the ground and shaking. His hair started to float and Shigeo’s eyes glowed a slight red. 

Ritsu and Dimple were frozen in place, unable to move as they watched Shigeo’s face staring intently at Tobio. 

“N-Nii-san, please, calm down-” Ritsu asked, his small voice shaking slightly when Shigeo snapped to turn to look at him. 

Seeing Ritsu shaken up, Shigeo pushed down his feelings, trying to keep them locked tight. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be acting this way right now.” 

“I-It’s okay, I’m mad too, I want to get those bastards and make sure they don’t hurt anyone either. But we have to be here for Tobio when he wakes up.” 

Ritsu’s right. They can find the ones who hurt Tobio later. Right now, they will be there for their baby brother.

“Shigeo, you can use that trick you did last time when you were trying to find those espers that wanted to kill you!” Dimple suggested. 

“Oh, right, I can.” Shigeo closed his eyes and felt the echo of the whole city. Ritsu’s psychic aura is here, a dark blue. A few blocks away from the hospital is a neon yellow, Hanazawa, then miles away was orange-red, Shou’s psychic aura. 

Furrowing his brow, he sent another echo, but this time spreading farther. Unfamiliar auras caught his attention. Two not so far away from the hospital, the other two from where the previous 7th division CLAW headquarters was, and one faint dark grey aura by itself. 

“...I found them. We’ll get them later.” 

  
  
  


An hour later, Tobio woke up. He looked out of it. He was on painkillers because of the cut on his face, but he was able to make out his mom and dad. 

Sitting up, he rubbed his eye and stared down at his cut up hands. 

His mother, sitting beside him, wanted to hug him and never let go, but she might hurt him for hugging him too tight, so she placed a gentle hand above his small hands. Tobio looked so fragile. She didn’t want to hurt him, he’s already been through enough. Her husband didn’t hesitate to ruffle Tobio’s hair, a small tear hanging from the corner of his eye. 

“Hello, Tobio.” Hana smiled softly. “Your brothers are downstairs getting something to eat. When they come back up, we’ll switch turns. Two visitors in the room, it’s policy.” She explained, slowly bringing her other hand to cup Tobio’s soft but battered cheek. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, baby. I’m sorry you had to go through this.” Hana’s voice cracked in between sentences. She gulped down her fear of what else could have happened if he wasn’t found earlier. 

Her baby boy…

Tobio stayed silent. 

“Kiddo, you are so strong for holding out for so long. I’m proud of you, we both are.” His dad grinned at him. 

Tobio leaned into his mother’s touch, his eyes closed tightly as he remembered those minutes being a punching bag to an esper. 

He sniffed. 

Then he felt his mother’s thumb caressing his cheek, rubbing away a stray tear. 

_“C’mon Tobio, wake up your psychic powers!”_

_“I don’t have any, dumbass!”_

_“Watch your damn mouth, you brat!”_

Tobio let in a choked gasp. The tears streamed down. He started to break down. 

Hana quickly gathered her baby boy into her arm, sitting beside him and leaning her chin onto his hair. 

Her husband sat on the opposite side of her and covered the both of them. 

“It’s okay now, Tobio, we’re here.” 

  
  


Taking turns, Shigeo and Ritsu hurry inside the room and Tobio sits there staring at the window. 

“Tobio…” Shigeo says as he walks in. 

The little Kageyama turned to them and his eyes were pink and puffy. 

Both brothers’ hearts break to see Tobio hurt like this. They walk to his bed and sit on the chairs beside him. 

“How are you feeling?” Ritsu asks. 

Tobio nods. 

“Does anything hurt?” Shigeo wondered. 

Tobio shrugs.

“That’s good. We’re glad that you’re not hurt anymore.” 

Tobio blinks. 

It was silent for a moment, nothing but the birds from outside the building and the heart monitor beeping. Tobio was staring down at his hands, seemingly in deep thought. 

“Tobio. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.” Shigeo said. 

“I am too. I can tell you held out for so long. You’re so strong, Tobio. I’m so proud of you.” Ritsu smiles, hopefully trying to get a change in reaction out of his little brother. 

But Tobio sits there, distracted. 

Both older brothers don’t know what to say, unsurely looking at each other and back to their baby brother. 

“You can see the big broccoli from here. Looks like a mountain!” Shigeo stated, glancing at the green behemoth. It really sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Then it was quiet again. 

“Tobio, do you want to talk?” Ritsu asked. 

Tobio shook his head. 

“That’s okay, we’ll be here if you need us.” Ritsu assured. 

Shigeo and Ritsu tried their best to fill the silence with their own chatter, explaining about how the big broccoli happened and where they were. Tobio listened to them with interest yet he still said nothing about it. 

“Saitama-nii is coming to see you. It’s been a long time since we saw him. Maybe he can stay a few days and we can do something together.” Ritsu thought out loud. 

“Last I heard from him, he got a new roommate.” Shigeo remembered. 

“A new roommate? Did you get a name?”

Shigeo thought for a moment. “Genos. I think his name was Genos.”

A nurse popped her head into the room and chimed in, “Hello boys. Visiting hours is over. You can visit your little brother tomorrow afternoon.”  
  
Ritsu and Shigeo stood up and group hugged their baby brother. Standing back, Shigeo went ahead. Ritsu stayed behind for a moment. 

“Tobio, I really am proud of you for staying strong. That’s really cool of you. We’ll see you tomorrow, right after school ends.” Ritsu said, sending his brother a smile and leaving. 

Tobio gripped the sheets of his bed and glared. 

_“I’m not strong at all…”_

  
  
  


It’s good that it was Friday. 

  
After the family visit, they were back at home. Their parents were. Not Ritsu or Shigeo. They were making a plan. Shigeo didn’t want Ritsu to look for the perpetrators alone, so Ritsu invited Shou. Shigeo told Ritsu that the two auras he found earlier didn’t move, they were still at the old headquarters of CLAW that belonged to the 7th Division. Ritsu agreed to scope the area and come back when they’re done. The boys don’t exactly like lying to their parents but they don’t want to make them worry about what they’re about to do. Saying they’ll be staying at a friend’s house, the brothers went on separate missions. Shigeo called up Hanazawa to help him. 

“Not to be rude or anything, but why ask for my help? I know you’re fully capable of handling it yourself, you’re really strong.” Hanazawa said, walking alongside Shigeo. 

“I don’t think I can do this alone.” 

“Well, I’ll always be by your side, Kageyama-kun!” Hanazawa patted Shigeo’s shoulder. 

They two headed towards a building that was nearly demolished in the explosion but it was still standing. 

“I think we should split up, to cover more ground, y’know?” Hanazawa suggested. Shigeo nods in agreement. 

Walking down the dimly lit corridor, Shigeo felt a faint aura nearby. Turning a right, he overstepped the fallen debris and opened a wooden door. 

The door slammed shut. 

“Took you a while to find me. I thought you were strong.” Underneath the flashing light bulb was a scrawny man, his eyes shadowed by the bad lighting and brown fedora. He was sitting on a crate, legs crossed. Was he trying to look intimidating? 

“I was surprised that you- _you_ \- were the one that defeated the big boss. I mean, really? All the talk I heard from those artificial espers, I thought they were pulling my leg. Shame really, my group and I weren’t those wannabes. We’re naturals. My group wanted to take down the Ultimate 5 and become the boss’s-”

“Be quiet.” Shigeo cut him off, speaking monotonously. 

“Right to it then, huh? I respect that.” The scrawny man rolled up his sleeves. “I just want to let you know that I’m much more powerful than you think I am.” 

“I doubt that.” 

“Doubt me? Really? Well, maybe you should ask the others that went up against me. Hm, your brother maybe?” 

Oh, that hit a nerve. 

Shigeo’s brows began to slightly furrow.  
  
“My brother?” 

“Yes, the small, blue-eyed boy. I could’ve easily killed him if it weren’t for that furball. But I did manage to give a good scratch.” A brown aura encircled his arms and around his fists were sharp ends like spears. “I think I gave him a good reminder not to mess with me. I think it would leave a permanent mark, physically and emotionally-”  
  
Shigeo swiped his hand and the man was embedded into the wall. He dropped to the ground onto his knees and hacked. He stood up, wobbling slightly. He regained his balance and sent his ‘spears’ towards Shigeo. Setting up a barrier, it bounced off and hit different areas of the room. 

“You got a strong barrier, don’t you? You’re a kid, that’s probably all you’v-” 

Shigeo flicked a finger, up and down, his psychic aura circling the man and slamming him up the ceiling and down to the floor. Letting go, Shigeo was sure the man may have passed out. 

“Why my baby brother? Why did you take him? Why hurt him? He doesn’t have any powers, he doesn’t _want_ powers. You could have just taken me when you had the chance.”

Unfortunately, the man doesn’t knock out that easily. He spits out a tooth and blood trickles down his chin. Glaring up at Shigeo that towered him, he let out a dry chuckle. 

“We needed someone to lure you both out. That useless boy was just leverage. Others thought maybe we can beat the shit out of him that he’ll stress enough to manifest psychic powers. They thought that maybe if he has powers, we’ll see if you’ll be able to sense him and you’ll come running to us. Since that didn’t work, killing was the only way to get your attention. It got yours, didn’t it?” 

Shigeo’s eyes widened and his aura gripped around the man. 

“You used my baby brother as leverage,” The man began to cough out, “Hurt him so he can somehow get psychic powers,” The scrawny bastard was having trouble breathing, “Attempted to kill him,” The man is wheezing. 

“Just to get my attention?” Shigeo’s maroon eyes held a fire, ignited and burning with an array of emotions he’s felt and one he hasn’t recognized. 

“What made you think you can hurt people like that?” 

Then the fire started to waver. 

Shigeo realized something. 

He threw the man against the wall. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that no one taught you that what you are doing is wrong. But that shouldn’t mean you can pick people who did nothing wrong, that only wanted to live a peaceful life, and beat them until they are bleeding. That’s not right.” 

Shigeo is pretty sure the man passed out when he flung him against the wall. He was drooling with saliva and blood. 

The door opened and there stood Hanazawa, his forehead covered with sweat and a woman floating a few inches off the ground, his yellow aura making her float. She was also unconscious. 

“It looks like you took care of him. My opponent had a lot of fight in her but what she lacked was finesse. Should we get going?” 

Shigeo walked up to Hanazawa and said, “I need to call Shishou. He has the number of Joseph-san.” 

  
  
  


_The same hour…_

Ritsu tied up the teenager a bit too tight, making the guy having trouble breathing. 

“Why did you kidnap my little brother?” He barked. 

Ritsu may have gone overboard. The teenager was covered with too many cuts and some pebbles stuck on his cheek. During their fight, Ritsu may have heard a loud crack (maybe a couple loud cracks) when he sent that tree and boulder flying towards the teenager but he couldn’t imagine how many cracks the teenager heard when he was beating up Tobio. It was only fair that Ritsu gives the same treatment. But worse. 

Even though in restraints, the teenager couldn’t help but scoff. “We heard that the Kageyama brothers were powerful. So, when we came to the conclusion that we only needed one of you to bring to the big boss, we chose the one that was near us. When we found out he was _weak_ and nothing but a _joke_ , we decided to rough him up until he manifests powers on his own. Man, the noises he can make were hilarious. But to you and your brother? Maybe if we killed him, it would have gotten your attention sooner and then I could’ve gotten a real fight.”  
  
“And I did.” The teenager wore a bloody grin. 

Every word that came out of this bastard’s mouth enraged Ritsu. His psychic power was only focused on his dominant hand. 

“You’re reactions were expected, but seeing the utter **pain** and **struggle** on little Tobio’s face was _priceless_.” 

Ritsu grabbed the top of his hair that a few strands were pulled out, but the aura-filled punch echoed the sounds when it made contact with the poor son of bitch’s face. 

The teenager was knocked back violently, his head against the floor and nose broken, maybe a few front teeth missing too. 

“Don’t talk about my little brother like that.” Ritsu hissed. He dusted his hands and looked back. “Wow, you work quick.” Shou whistled. 

“I take it you’re done?” 

“She was like a cockroach but I managed to make sure she doesn’t get up for a while.” Shou waved off, walking up to Ritsu and patting his shoulder.

“I don’t know what to do now. We can’t just leave them here.” Ritsu turned to glare at the unconscious teenager. 

“I know a guy that can take care of this. You don’t have to worry your pretty little head about anythin’ else.” 

  
  
  


The boys really shouldn’t be surprised when they meet at the door of the hidden headquarters that belonged to the government that took care of rogue espers. 

“Nii-san.”  
  
“Ritsu.”  
  
Shou and Hanazawa waved at each other. Taking a look at the beaten guys behind them, they said nothing else and continued inside. 

Joseph stood there, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. 

“Due to the recent events of what has transpired, I need you four to stay here. Now, from what happened before, I let what happened to you four and others slide. But now, I don’t want a repeat again, and I don’t want extra paperwork. I don’t know how long you four have been fighting these others, but rest assured they’ll make up what they did with time.” Joseph said, dragging a smoke from his lips. 

“I hope you know that what you did was reckless. You could’ve caused a commotion and bring attention. Especially you two,” He pointed his finger at Mob and Hanazawa. “Fighting in a public area could’ve gotten the attention of others and people could’ve gotten hurt.” 

Shigeo looked down. He hadn’t really thought of that. He was just more focused on getting the people who hurt his baby brother. 

Hanazawa frowned, speaking up, “But they didn’t. No one else got hurt.” 

“Though the could’ve.”  
  
“But they _didn’t_.” Hanazawa emphasized. 

“I’m not arguing with a twelve-year-old. Just reflect and think of a better solution then facing the danger head on.”  
  
“They were barely a danger. They’re just kids trapped in adult bodies only thinking of power and using others as stepping stones.” Shou scoffed. 

“It doesn’t matter. You had my number, you should’ve told me about this and I could’ve solved it.” Joseph countered. 

“This wasn’t between you and them. It was between me and my brother and those sons of bitches. They specifically targeted us and wanted to use my little brother as leverage to get to us. This was personal.” Ritsu scowled at Joseph. 

Unfazed by the frazzled teenager, Joseph blew out the smoke. “That’s exactly why you should have left it to me. You were getting personal, your feelings got in the way and it blurred your common sense. I could’ve handled them by myself.”  
  
“You’re telling us that you, the one who tried to defeat the Ultimate 5 take on these other natural espers that were almost on par with the ones that tried to kill us? You could’ve handled them by yourself and still get out unscathed? In the span of one evening, you could have arrested them?” Shigeo spoke up, ever so soft-spoken but there was disbelief in his tone. 

“I thought it was us that was able to stop them, not you. My brother and I planned that if we were to go separately we would cover more ground and stop these people from harming anyone else. And we did. We called you because we thought you would take care of them, not give us a lecture.” 

Well, shit. The three boys stared at Shigeo with awe. Ritsu has never been more proud of his brother.

Shigeo sighed and closed his eyes. “He’s still out there. I don't know where he is exactly, but I know he’s out there. He’s waiting. _He’s_ the one that gave these people the directions to kidnap and harm my baby brother. So, I’m sorry if I’m acting this way cause I’m being a little ‘on edge’.” 

Joseph was insulted, per se, maybe a bit humiliated, but he was impressed. Reigen’s kid seemed to have more guts than before. 

“...Alright, fair enough. But for now, I’ve got to keep you four in here just until we find their leader, I guess. Precautions, y’know? We got a room with a TV and some comics. Follow me.” 

They stayed there for at least thirty minutes. 

It was getting boring. 

The channel on the screen didn’t seem so very entertaining.

Ritsu was getting fidgety. What Shigeo said may have stuck with Ritsu. 

_“He’s still out there. I don’t know where he is exactly, but I know he’s out there.”_

He glanced at Shigeo. His face was blank. Nothing can be read from his expression as he stared into space. 

Shou had fallen asleep on the couch, his feet on Ritsu's lap and Hanazawa, too, had fallen asleep on Shigeo’s shoulder. 

They can’t just stay here. They have to look for this guy. He’s the reason for all of this. For Tobio’s kidnapping. For getting hurt so badly. 

Hell, the people in these headquarters, even Joseph, don’t know what the bastard looks like. Shigeo had encountered the man once and only saw a shadow of his features, covered by that stupid hood. But he knows the aura. 

So, having the only chance to find the asshole who planned Tobio’s kidnapping, is cooped up in here, wasting away the minutes where Shigeo could have found him and pummeled him to the ground. 

It’s not like they can break out. Ritsu tried to blow the damn wall out, but his powers weren’t working. They could have cursed the room so their powers weren’t able to manifest. 

Minutes turned to hours and there was not a single update on the hooded jerk. 

Ritsu had passed out from exhaustion and his head leaned against his fist that rested on the armchair of the ugly patterned couch. 

Shigeo’s eyes were closed. He was not sleeping. He was too busy focusing his energy. He knew the room had some type of curse where his powers were lowered, but he was able to push himself out and astral project his way out of there. He floated past the woods to the city where he tried to find Dimple so he can tell him a message. When he found the green spirit, he told him to watch out for Tobio. Stay at the hospital until he and Ritsu can come back. But if his older brother is there, let Saitama take care of it. Shigeo may have left an open threat too, which compelled the ghost to stick by Tobio’s side, but Shigeo won’t open up any further. 

It was late morning. 

Shigeo took the time to look for the hooded man. He scoured a quarter of the neighborhood but found nothing. No one except ghosts that tried to take a bite at Shigeo’s spirit. 

Then he felt something. Floating to a bar, ‘The Wire’, he fazed through the walls and tilted his head. One lonely man sat by the counter, his grey hoodie up, covering his face. Floating nearer, to take a closer look, this man’s psychic aura grew stronger. It was dormant for now, but it was still slightly strong. 

“I know you’re there.” The man mumbled. 

“I’m not going to hurt you. You’re not on my hit list. It’s your brother that’s on it. But when I find him, I do hope the little brat puts up a fight. I do like to see him try and live.” 

Shigeo turned tail and hurried back to headquarters. Going back to his body, he fazed back in and opened his eyes. Laying Hanazawa in a more comfortable position, he stood up and opened the door, telling the security guard, “I need to talk to Joseph. I know where he is.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New challenger approaches!!! It's about to go down, like funky town!

Tobio sat bored in his bed. When can he go home? He wants to be in his own bed, softer covers, softer pillows. He needs a shower too. He bets his hair is so greasy it looks like pizza. Luckily, his mother was able to give him a new change of clothes yesterday when she visited. Staring at the TV, it was some anime rerun, but even that gets boring. He sighed. Looking out the window, he wondered what his brothers would be doing. It was Saturday after all, maybe they are getting some really good food without him. Tobio hates the hospital food, it tastes bland and soggy. Especially the congee, it didn’t taste like congee at all. 

His face itches. Stupid bandages. He wanted to scratch his eye but it was covered and damn, it was fucking  _ itchy _ . 

He tried ignoring it for now but he’ll remember it and then it’ll annoy him. 

Maybe he can sleep it off. 

  
  
  


Dimple has been watching over the boy for hours and he wants to leave. But if he leaves, he knows something bad will happen, and then not only Shigeo will come after him but Ritsu too. Knowing both brothers are scary when it comes to how protective they are with their baby brother implies that if Dimple were to leave, Shigeo and Ritsu will beat him up and then exorcise him. 

The brat seemed to fall asleep in a matter of minutes. Dimple floated near the cat and talked to her. 

Both ghosts seemed to have an intense conversation, seemingly about how many people they have picked up in their last life. 

Gem’s ears perked up, blue eyes sharpening at the coming aura that happened to close in.  “What is it?” Dimple asked. Then he sensed it too.    
  
It was cruel. Sneaky. 

A hooded man appeared in Tobio’s room and his eyes were casted from the shadows of his hood.

“Oh Christ, this guy seems like bad news.” Dimple cursed. 

Gem disappeared for now, but Dimple quickly possessed Tobio, his pale face harboring a red flush. His eyes opened and pulled out the needles and wires that were connected to him and got out of bed. 

“Why are you possessing the boy? He’s nothing, he holds no use.” The man said. 

“Wow, I can see why Shigeo and Ritsu want to hunt you down. If they were here, insulting their baby brother in front of their face is like asking for a death sentence.” Dimple replied. He glanced at the sharp pen that was on the table. 

“My business is not with you, but with little Kageyama here. He’s a witness and he needs to die.”    
  
“No can do, bitchface, Shigeo would kill me. Somehow. If I don’t protect his baby bro.”    
  
“Have it your way. I’ll push you out of the boy and exorcise you. Then I’ll kill the boy. Who knows? Maybe I don’t even need my powers to defeat you and kill him.” 

“I’d like to see you try!” Dimple grabbed the pen and round kicked the man. The hooded man wobbled a bit and Dimple drop kicked him, having him fall to the ground. The adult swiped his foot underneath Tobio and fell to his butt. The bastard pulled at his ankle and Dimple kicked him in the face, stabbing him in the center of his hand. 

He grunted, and Dimple dragged Tobio’s body into a sprint, excusing himself from the other patients and nurses. He tried to find the elevator or the stairs, but the more he ran, the more corners he had to face. Why is this such a big hospital?! How many turns does he have to make to find the goddamn elevator? 

There!

When he found it, the doors opened and he bumped into a man, making him fall back. 

“Ah. Tobio? What are you doing out here?” A man asked. 

Dimple looked up and he was unfamiliar with him. Though, the same blank face and dead eyes looked somewhat recognizable. 

“Your cheeks are unnaturally red. Do you have a fever, Tobes?” The man picked up his little brother and set him down. 

“A-Are you Saitama?” Dimple asked. 

“What? Of course I’m Saitama. What’s going on with you Tobes? Was the concussion that bad?” 

“N-Nevermind that! Some dickbag tried to kill me! I stabbed him to slow him down but-”   
  
“Wait, wait, wait. Dickbag? Stabbed? What happened?”

“We have to get out of here!” Dimple urged them, pushing them back to the elevator. 

What Dimple didn’t notice was that there was another male with blonde hair and black eyes with yellow pupils. 

“Are you in danger? Sensei, would you like me to scan the area to see if there are any suspicious characters?” The blond man offered. 

“Nah, it’s fine.”    
  
“Listen! We have to-”   
  
Then he felt a shiver run down his back. Dimple suddenly felt a wind pass through him and he was no longer possessing Tobio. The kid was about to drop dead, that is until Saitama caught him. 

The three were faced by the hooded esper.    
  
“You. You’re holding Kageyama Tobio.” The man pointed, his hand bleeding. 

“That I am. And you are?” Saitama carried his baby brother bridal style and pulled at Genos’s sleeve to bring him to the side so they wouldn't block the elevator. 

“I’m the one that will end his life.”   
  
He was about to step on a bomb. 

Saitama stared at the man. “End his life? What trouble did my baby brother get into? Certainly what Tobio has done is nothing drastic. He just stabbed you in the hand, doesn’t mean you should kill him over that.” 

_‘He just stabbed you in the hand, no biggie.’_ Dimple thought to himself. 

“I don’t have time for this. I can dispose of all three of you.” 

“Genos.”    
  
“On it.” 

Genos ran to him and punched him in the gut, then kneed him on the side. The man wheezed but brought a hand up to swipe at Genos, sending him crashing out the window. Nurses screamed and bystanders hurried to a room where they could be safe. The hallways were empty now. 

“That wasn’t very nice.” Saitama said. “Listen man, I think you should stand down. I don’t think you’ll like what’s about to happen next.” 

“Are you a Kageyama?” 

“That’s none of your business, actually.” 

“Whatever. You need to die now.” He pushed his hand towards them, but Saitama only felt a gust of wind.

“Ehh? That’s all you can do? Blow wind? Lame.”    
  
The man, frustrated, did it again, but this time, Saitama had to hold Tobio close to him as he was pushed against the wall. 

In a blink of an eye, Saitama laid Tobio down on the seat and slapped the man. Saitama was very strong, but he tried to hold back so as to not kill him. The sound was loud though, it echoed in the hallways. 

That sound was loud enough to make Tobio wake up. He groggily woke up, and he yawned. 

“Tobio? You awake?” Saitama turned to him.

“Sai-nii, behind you!” Tobio shouted. 

Saitama was punched in the face. But it had no effect. 

“Why’d you do that?” 

“Wh-what? I just used everything I had! That should’ve killed you!” The hooded man yelled, flabbergasted. 

“You’re dead set on killing me. Tell me, why do you want to hurt Tobio?” 

“That brat stabbed me in the hand! And he should have been dead when Mokomi slit his face! Get out of my way, baldy!”    


He stepped on the bomb. 

Saitama’s features sharpened. “Oh. I get it now. You’re the one that was in charge of Tobio’s kidnapping. Now you’re trying to talk about killing him in front of me?” 

“Enough of this!” The man hovered his hand over Saitama’s face. Saitama grabbed his hand and it began to be crushed in a matter of seconds. You could hear the bones become smashed. The man cried in pain. 

Saitama leaned in closely, saying, “I can’t kill you, not when my baby brother is watching. He’s been through enough of your shit and I’d be damned to bring more baggage onto him. So, I think, that it’s in your best interest to back the fuck off and not come close to my family, or in fact, anyone. But if you decide to fuck with me again, I will mess you up so badly that you won’t be able to be breathing right because you’ll be in constant pain. Get me?” 

The man cowered as he nodded vigorously, scared for his life as tears started to form. 

“I’ll just give you a taste of what’s to come.” 

With his other hand, Saitama held back and right hooked the man on the face, making his fall unconscious. His jaw had been dislocated, nose broken and bleeding, and most of his teeth out on the floor. 

Saitama huffed and put his hands on his hips. There was an engine sound and out of the window came in the demon cyborg that was flying. He settled on the ground and glanced at the body. 

“Did you go all out, Sensei?” 

“If I did, there wouldn’t be remnants of his body. Mind tying him up and watching over him? Anyways, you good, Tobes?” 

Tobio stared at the body.

Saitama snapped his fingers at his baby brother. “Hey, yoohoo, Tobio.” 

“I-I’m fine!” Tobio squawked. 

“Let’s head back to your room, yeah? Can you walk?” 

Tobio tried to stand up but winced at the pain in his chest. 

“Looks like you can’t-”   
  
“I can!”   
  
“Oh yeah? Let’s see you walk to your room.”    
  
Tobio took a few steps until the unsettling pain hurt his stomach, making him crumple on the floor. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. C’mon, blueberry, I don’t want mom to skin me alive, letting you walk while you’re still a patient.” He carried Tobio, supporting his back on one hand and hooking his other hand underneath his legs. 

“I thought mom doesn’t have control over you anymore since you’re an adult.” Tobio stated. 

_ This is a trap This is a trap This is a trap  _

“Tobio?”

“Hm?”

“Shut up.”

With Tobio back in his room and the nurse checking if there are any injuries on Tobio, Genos had taken the man into Tobio’s room where he can watch him if he wakes up or does anything funny. 

Saitama called up an old friend for help. “Yoo, Arataka. I caught me a bad guy, an esper, I think. You still work in that area, right? D’ya know anyone that can take the guy in? I’m at Chamomile Health Center in Coriander Avenue. You know a guy? Cool, cool. Well, he’s tied up and my roommate is watching over him. Wha-No, he’s not my boyfriend, fuck off. Yeah, yeah, at least I’m not being an ass and asking if you’re dating your employee, oops, I just did. Yeah, well screw you too. Yeah, I’ll see you sometime, bye.” Saitama hangs and sighs. 

  
  
  


“We sent a few people there and they haven’t found anyone suspicious. But I can assure you, we’re trying our best.” Joseph said. 

“I think it would be best if you sent us out there. We would be able to corner him and lure him out of the city.” Shigeo shot back. 

The other three boys shot glances between the two males. The three were sitting on the couch, silently backing up Shigeo. 

“It’s too dangerous.”   
  
“It’s more dangerous having him walk out there while we’re still talking. I know his aura, I know what he looks like, if you can just let me out I can pinpoint his exact location.” 

“We don’t have time for that.” 

“We won’t have time if we keep stalling!” Shigeo raised his voice slightly. 

The three boys can tell that Shigeo is obviously distressed. 

“Kageyama-kun. Believe me, I want to find the guy as bad as you do, but you need to leave this with the professionals.” 

“It would be more professional if you sent us out there since we were capable of taking down people that you were unable to capture.” 

Shou ‘ooed’ underneath his hand.    
  
“Sending middle-schoolers out to take down an adult esper? Doesn’t sound very professional to me.” 

Losing his patience, he lost the niceties, “We don’t have time for this, my baby brother could be probably facing him right now and I swear if he gets hurt again because I was stuck in here, I’m going to-” 

A phone was ringing. 

“Hold that thought.” Joseph raised a finger. Picking up his phone, he left the room and closed the door behind him. 

“Uh, Nii-san?” Ritsu called out. 

The TV exploded. The three jumped in surprise. 

“Damn, Mob.” Shou muttered. 

“Kageyama-kun? You okay?” Hanazawa asked. 

Shigeo still hasn’t faced them. “I’m fine.” He said in a strained tone. 

“You don’t sound fine.” Shou pointed out. “Suzuki!” Ritsu hissed. 

“I think, with just enough concentrated power, I can blast this door open and we can make a run for it.” Shigeo suggested. 

“I heard that. No you’re not.” Joseph said, walking back in. “Good news, we’ve found the guy. Reigen sent me his location because his friend was able to disable the man.”   
  
Shigeo sighed. Finally. “Where did he find him?”

“Chamomile Health Center.” 

“ _ What _ .” Ritsu said. 

“Who...Who found the man?” 

“Some guy named Saitama.” Joseph shrugged. 

Ritsu and Shigeo let out a breath. That’s good. That means Saitama took care of it. Tobio won’t get hurt on Saitama’s watch. Everything is okay. 

Then Shigeo sweatdropped. “Wait, Saitama found him?” 

“Yeah?”

“Is the guy even alive?” Ritsu asked. 

“I’m not sure. Is there a problem.”

“Knowing our big brother, there’s a small chance for the guy to be breathing. He probably messed him up really badly or there’s nothing left of him.” Ritsu explained. 

“I didn’t know you had another brother.” Hanazawa looked to Ritsu. 

“I didn’t know he had a younger brother since last night. Now you have another older brother?” Shou wondered. 

“Yeah. But Saitama is more powerful than me.” Shigeo replied. 

  
  
  
  


Saitama picked his ear with his pinky finger as he yawned. His mom and dad dropped by to bring food and go back to work. Genos went out to buy some more snacks cause Saitama knows the endless void that is his baby brother’s stomach. While Tobio sat there eating the food his mother made, he was surprised to still hear his stomach growling. 

“Jesus, Tobes. You ate all of the karaage and rice. That basically makes it two bowls. Including mine. Which makes it three. How hungry can you get?” He flicked his finger and laid his hand on the armrest. 

“Shaddup, the hospital food is not as good as mom’s cooking.”    
  
“Can’t argue with that. But at least try and bear with the food. It can’t be that bad.” 

“Whatever. I knew you were strong, but I didn’t think you’d kill the guy.”   
  
“I didn’t kill him. You’d know that I’d kill him that there wouldn’t be any body parts attached.” Saitama corrected. 

“Yeah, yeah. So, you were holding back?”

“Dude, I wasn’t even trying.”    
  
“Holy crap, don’t you get bored being the strongest guy?”

“You have no idea.”    
  
“Does that mean if you play volleyball, you’d destroy the ball and the ground?”

“Most likely.”   
  
“Wow, that sucks.” Tobio placed his chopsticks down and burped. 

“Did you ask your boyfriend to buy milk?” 

“Yeah I- You lil’brat, he’s not my boyfriend, damn it!” 

“But you wish though, right?” 

“Tobio, I will yeet you outta this hospital bed into space.”   
  
“No you won’t, mom’ll kill you.” 

Before Saitama could retort, footsteps from the distance became louder and in came Shigeo and Ritsu bumping behind him. 

They took a look at the knocked out guy and then to Tobio and Saitama. 

“You messed the guy up pretty bad, huh?” Ritsu asked, taking a seat next to Tobio. Shigeo sat beside Ritsu.    
  
“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Shigeo examined his baby brother. 

“No. I’m fine.” Tobio replied. Then Tobio blinked. “Is it over?” 

The three looked at each other, sending Tobio a smile, 

“It’s over.” 

  
  
  
  


“I can walk on my own, I don’t need help.” Tobio swatted his brother’s hands away from him.

“Just making sure, baby brother.” Saitama responded. 

Once they got home, Saitama and Genos settled down in an extra room with two comfy futons. 

When Genos came back to the hospital, snacks in hand, Ritsu almost had an aneurysm. Meeting a popular hero hadn’t been in his bucket list until now, and meeting and seeing him real close sure was great. 

Genos offered to make dinner while he let Saitama catch up to his younger brothers at the dining table. 

“How is life over in Z-City?” Shigeo asked, drinking a glass of milk. 

“It’s nothing exciting. Normal stuff, y’know? Buying groceries, cleaning, fighting monsters, laundry. Normal stuff.” 

“Yeah, fighting monsters is normal.” Ritsu pointed out. 

“I thought that Seasoning City would be also filled with monsters but I guess it’s mainly espers. Anyways, I’ve been filled in by Tobio on what’s happening with him. I am curious what you two were up to.”   
  
Ritsu and Shigeo looked at each other. “Normal stuff.”    
  
“What is normal stuff?” 

“School, student council, getting powers, doing homework. Normal stuff.” Ritsu shrugged. 

“You got psychic powers. No way, since when?” 

“Ah, a while ago.”    
  
“Congrats, little brother. Now you can bend all the spoons you want.” 

“Sai-nii!” 

“What, ain’t it not true? You would always have this constipated look on your face for staring at a spoon for too long, it was adorable.” 

Ritsu covered his face with his hands, face flushed pink with embarrassment.

“Remember when he would cry because it didn’t work? It was so cute.” Shigeo added.

“Shigeo-nii!” Ritsu whined. 

“What about you, Shigeo? Did you talk to the girl you like?” Saitama asked, leaning his elbow on the table and his hand underneath his chin. 

Shigeo blushed. “A-Ah, no, not yet. But I will, soon.”    
  
“Go get’em, tiger.” Saitama gave Shigeo a thumbs up. 

“How’s living with your cyborg boyfriend?” Tobio wondered.

Genos made an unidentifiable noise while Saitama sent a soft glare at Tobio. “He’s not my boyfriend. Stop calling him that.” 

“But you live together. And he seems to have a kink on calling you Sensei.”    
  
All three older brother’s eyebrows raised.    
  
“You’re eleven, how do you know what a kink is?” Saitama said, giving him a dead stare. 

Tobio shrugged, “People in my class talk. I just happened to overhear them one time.” 

“But you’re  _ eleven _ .” 

“And you’re forty.” Tobio quipped. 

“I’m twenty-six, not forty damn it!” 

Ritsu stifled a laugh behind his fist and quickly looked away when Saitama glared his way. 

“Shigeo, get ahold of our little brothers, they’re acting like brats!” 

“You do look like you’re in your mid-thirties.” Shigeo thought out loud. 

“Yo, that’s it, all of you, meet me at the Denny’s parking lot, 4 AM.”    
  
“But we don’t have a Denny’s in Seasoning City.” Shigeo said. 

“Well you better bring out your nintendo switches cause I’mma bout to beat all your asses in a game of Smash.”    
  
“We only have one nintendo switch.” Shigeo replied. 

“I’mma bout to whoop all your asses in it.”    
  
“Sensei, you don’t have a nintendo switch.” Genos piped in. 

“Genos, you’re not helping.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn' t the end.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teasing and camping!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the next chapter is the last chapter

In the living room, the four brothers were scattered. Ritsu and Tobio sitting on the floor watching TV while Shigeo and Saitama occupy the couch. Running low on snacks, (thanks to Tobio’s always starving stomach) Genos offered to buy snacks along with any other groceries they needed. 

“I appreciate you were able to buy us hoodies, but why so specific?” Ritsu asked. Tobio picked at his newly bought hoodie and stared at it. 

Ritsu’s hoodie was a dark blue that said ‘SPOON BABY’ in green letters and Tobio’s hoodie was a light blue with ‘BLUEBERRY BABY’ in purple lettering. 

“They were on sale and they reminded me of you guys.” Saitama replied, playing on Ritsu’s nintendo switch. 

“I understand, but I’ve got to wonder, why are yours and Shigeo’s about boobs?” 

With Saitama’s ‘OPPAI’ hoodie, it was complemented with Shigeo’s white hoodie that displayed ‘MEGA MILK’ in big bold black letters. Shigeo was drinking out of a milk box. 

It was like there were stars in Saitama’s eyes. “Cause we’re the older brothers.” 

“Ah. Right.” Ritsu sweatdropped. 

“When can I take off these bandages, they’re itchy.” Tobio asked, rubbing his arm. 

“I guess you can take them off now. It had been a few days already.” Shigeo replied. 

“Let me take them off.” Ritsu said, scooting to sit closer to Tobio. Ritsu untied the knot of Tobio’s bandages from his face and slowly swirled it around. 

When the bandages dropped to the floor, it was quiet. The scar on Tobio’s face was not so...appealing, but to Saitama it looked pretty cool. It was an angry pink-brown scar that stretched to his right cheek to the top of his hairline. Tobio opened his other eye and saw darkness. 

“...I can’t see.” 

It was expected, of course. Tobio got cut on his eye and the result was a pale blue iris and blindness in one eye. 

Tobio looked down and his eyes widened. He raised his hand slightly to the figure sitting in his lap and placed his hand on it’s head. 

“I can’t see, but I can see...things.” Tobio stated. 

“What do you mean, baby brother?” Saitama looked at Tobio. 

“If I close this eye, I can’t see you. But I can see colors. And...This thing.” Tobio demonstrated, his healthy closed and his blind eye staring down at the white-grey thing with blue glowing eyes. When he stared up at his brothers, what surrounded Ritsu was a dark blue hue, Shigeo’s was a multicolor kaleidoscope, and Saitama’s was an eye-piercing white. 

“I can’t see ‘you’ but I can see the colors that surround you, if that makes sense. Even an outline of your body. What is this thing?” 

The white-grey thing mew'd. 

“You can see Gem?” Shigeo asked.

“Gem? But she’s...dead...Wait a minute.” Tobio scratched under the supposed cat’s chin and it purred. 

“Wait, what’s going on? Am I seeing ghosts? Am I a psychic?” Tobio shot at them, looking slightly panicked. 

“Do you feel something?” Ritsu said. 

Tobio put his other hand on his stomach. “I’m hungry.” 

Saitama muttered an ‘Of course’. 

Ritsu ignored him. “Other than that. Can you move things without touching them?”

Tobio focused on the milk box in Shigeo’s hand. He concentrated really hard to make it come forward to Tobio’s hand. 

“Eh, don’t hurt yourself too much, baby brother. You look constipated.” Saitama warned. 

“I can’t move things.”  
  
“Maybe you can see auras. That’s why you can see our colors. And ghosts too.” Shigeo diagnosed. 

“But I can’t do what you two can do?” Tobio gestured to Ritsu and Shigeo. 

“No, I don’t think so. But after the accident, you probably are able to see auras and ghosts now. Maybe with Ritsu and me’s powers, it probably strengthened your ability to see clear outlines of people’s auras and bodies.” Shigeo hypothesized.

“I’m gonna take a shower now.” Tobio stood up and headed to the bathroom. 

  
  
  


Saitama stared at the TV, insulted, hurt, angry. 

“What the fuck.”   
  
“Saitama! Watch your language!” Their mother yelled from the kitchen. Genos volunteered to help out Kagemama with dinner. The two have been conversing most of the time, to Genos updating Kagemama about Saitama’s life in Z-City and Hana sharing baby photos of her boys to Genos. 

The boys were playing Mario Kart. 

On the couch was Ritsu and Tobio, Ritsu scoring first, Tobio, second, Shigeo on on the floor ranking third, and Saitama who was also on the floor, ranked last. 

“What. What kind of cheats did you pull, little brother?” Saitama shot at Ritsu, who stuck out his tongue. 

“You suck, Aniki.” Tobio stated. 

“Rematch, I demand a rematch!” 

“Nii-san, you’re going to break the controller.” Shigeo fretted, seeing how there was already a crack on the controller.

“I’m not gonna break it, rematch!” 

Saitama lost again. 

  
  
  
  


_“Have you seen the scar on his face?”_

_“Total creep! He looks even scarier now!"_

_“What happens if we poke the bear? Do you think he’ll roar at us?”_

_“Don’t! He’ll probably beat you into a pulp.”_

_  
_ _  
_ _“Whatever, like the teachers will believe him. They don’t like him, so even if he beats us up, he’ll be the one to get in trouble.”_

“Hey, Kageyama!” Kiyama shouts, two of his friends following behind him. 

It was the end of the day, and Tobio didn’t have volleyball practice since the coach was sick. Tobio really didn’t want to deal with Kiyama’s crap today, he was in a good mood and he doesn’t want that dumbass to spoil it. 

Walking until he passed the school gate, he turned around to see the irked expression of Kiyama. 

“You got guts coming back to school, Kageyama. I really thought when you were gone, you wouldn’t be coming back.” Taking a closer look at his face, he grinned. 

“Well damn, people were right. You got yourself a nasty scar on you. Too bad it just makes you uglier.” His lackeys snicker behind him. 

Tobio just needs them to take on more step out from behind the gates. Tobio says, “It’s not like I wanted to come back here. Hearing you talk about pointless crap does get boring.”   
  
“Is that all you got? Surely, when you were gone for those two weeks, I thought you’d get a better comeback.” 

“Yeah, and talking about the way I look surely makes you feel better about yourself. Seriously, if all you can talk about is me, then you must have some kind of sick crush on me.” Tobio retorted. 

Kiyama was still behind the school gates. 

“Keep telling yourself that. Like anyone would fall for your fugly appearance.”   
  
“Not as fugly as your attitude. And stop trying to talk closer to me, your breath stinks.” Tobio waved a hand in front of his nose, one of Kiyama’s friends chuckled but was glared down by their leader.

“The only one that stinks is you.”  
  
“Wow, strong insult there, Kiyama.”   
  
Kiyama takes a step forward. He grabs Tobio by the collar and pulls him near his face.   
  
“You think you’re better than me? You always thought that, didn’t you? Listen here, loser, you have no one to rely on here. You got no friends to back you up, no teachers to help you, hell, your teammates think you’re a brat that they won’t spare a glance at you. When was the last you went to practice where your teammates didn’t talk crap behind your back? You have no one and you will always have no one.”   
  
Tobio glared darkly at Kiyama. “Just cause you have your own problems doesn’t mean you should push me around and think I’m weak. I’ve fought you before.”   
  
“But at what price? You always get in trouble because teachers think you’re a troublemaker. If you keep talking, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to have no one to believe in you in the future. You’ll be alone, just like the loner you always are.”   
  
Take another step forward. I dare you. 

“Is bullying me one way for you to feel better? Are you that pathetic? People who think they can hurt others because they think they’re entitled to, are the worst kinds of losers.”

“You-” Kiyama pulled back his fist and Tobio waited for the oncoming threat, that is, he felt nothing. 

A hand blocked Kiyama’s fist to make contact against Tobio’s face. 

“I didn’t think kids can be so cruel nowadays.” A man’s voice said. Gently pushing Kiyama's fist away, the boy let go of Tobio’s collar and stepped back. 

“Aniki?” Tobio looked up in curiosity. 

Saitama watched Kiyama still stand against him and Tobio. His friends took one look at his friend behind him, Genos, who stared at them coldly. 

“We came to pick you up and I saw this little scene unfold. I thought your friend was handling it?” Saitama raised a brow at Tobio.

Tobio fidgeted underneath his older brother’s gaze. “I am handling it.” He murmured.

“Yeah. Getting into a fight was handling it.” 

“Like you’re any better!” 

“Your brother does have a point.” Genos said.

Saitama ignored Genos’s additional comment. “Okay, I’ll let you handle it. We’ll be at the store buying snacks and milk. See you there.”   
  
Genos stared at his teacher oddly. “Are you sure sensei? I can take care of the problem, that is, if your brother wants me too.” 

“No! Only bitches send a grown-up.” Tobio retaliated. 

“You heard him. C’mon, Genos.” 

The adults began to turn away and walked the way they came from, going to the closest convenience store. 

Tobio watched them walk the other way and he went back to stare at the three boys. 

“Th-That bald guy knows Demon Cyborg?!” One of Kiyama’s friends screeched.

“Can you ask him if I can get his autograph?!” The other asked. 

Woah. These two changed their attitudes quickly after seeing his brother’s boyfriend. Tobio glanced at Kiyama who’s fists shook. 

“I don’t know why you hate me so much, but whatever is going on with you, I hope you get over it. It’s really boring seeing the same actions over and over again that end up with the same result. If you think I’m looking down on you, maybe it’s because I know that what you’re doing is petty and childish. If you want to fight me because it makes you feel better, I’ll fight you, but I know I’ll win.”   
  
“You jerk!” Kiyama ran to Tobio, ready to strike but Tobio sidestepped to the right and stuck his foot out, making the other boy trip and fall face flat on the cement. 

The other two didn’t know what to do. Since Tobio knew Demon Cyborg, they think he’ll send the Demon Cyborg over to threaten them. So they stood there. 

“I’m going to go home. Change your damn attitude while you’re at it.” 

“Take care of those brats, Tobes?” Saitama handed over the strawberry milk box to his little brother. 

“I handled it. Don’t worry about it.” Tobio took the milk box and stabbed the straw into the box and drank from it. 

“I wasn’t worrying. I was just making sure if you got it.”   
  
“I always got it.”   
  
“Like your friend did?”

Tobio blinked at his brother and hummed. “He’s okay. He’s gotten past through the gossip. It doesn’t really matter.” 

Saitama smiled and brought his hand up to ruffle Tobio’s hair. “Good.” 

  
  
  


Tobio was still half-asleep when he went downstairs to the kitchen. He wasn’t the only one awake, it was just his brothers were too lazy to get up from their room and go downstairs. They just hung out until they get hungry, then they race downstairs looking for food. 

Tobio scratched his stomach, yawning when he got to open the refrigerator to get a bottle of strawberry milk. Closing it, when he opened the bottle, just as he was about to drink, the doorbell rang. He grunted and placed it down. Walking to the door, he swung the door open and glared at the bright sun behind the stranger. 

“Who’re you?” Tobio grunted.

“Hello, baby brother-kun. I’m Hanazawa Teruki, Mob’s best friend. Is he still here?” 

“Oh. Yeah, hold on.” Tobio let in a big gulp of air and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Shigeo-nii! Your boyfriend’s at the door!” 

The blond winced at how loud Tobio yelled, yet sure enough, Shigeo came down the stairs. Wait a second did Tobio just say _boyfriend_? 

“Hello, Hanazawa-kun.” Shigeo greeted softly, probably still sleepy from being woken up. His hair was still messy and he was rubbing his eye with the sleeve of his hoodie.

He looked very endearing. 

Teruki looked down at the hoodie that Shigeo wore.

“Mega Milk?” Teruki asked. 

“Oh, yeah. My older brother bought it for me. It’s big, but I like it. It’s really soft. Feel it.” Shigeo raised his arm. 

The blond felt his sleeve and let out a small ‘huh’. “It is very soft. Is it polyester?”

“I think so. Did you eat breakfast?”

“I wasn’t hungry, so I just came here.”  
  
“Hm. I have to brush my teeth. I’ll be back. Take a seat. And Tobio,” Shigeo shot a blank look at his baby brother, “Be nice.” 

Tobio grunted. 

Shigeo went upstairs and he left the two boys at the door. 

“Follow me.” Tobio said. 

He guided Hanazawa to the kitchen and the blond took a seat. Tobio chugged his strawberry milk and wiped the milk moustache from his upper lip. He sniffed and took a look at Hanazawa. 

“How’d you know my big brother?” 

“Which one?” Hanazawa joked. 

“Both.”   
  
Meeting them...wasn’t really pleasant? He did threaten them when he first met the Kageyama brothers, Shigeo and Ritsu, but they’re good now. It’s all in the past. 

“I met Mob at my school. I...It was more of a...a psychic power face-off? And meeting little brother-kun I also challenged him against my psychic powers.” Teruki waited for a change in reaction on Tobio’s face but it stayed neutral. He sees the uncanny resemblance of the brothers. 

“Hm. That’s cool. How do you know me?” 

“Mob has talked about you. You and his brothers. He speaks of them very proudly.”   
  
“Shigeo...Talks about me?” Tobio asked incredulously. 

“Of course he talks about you. He says that you’re a great volleyball player and that you always try your best to understand others. You’re very strong too.”   
  
Tobio hummed. “I’m not strong. I don’t have super strength or psychic powers.” 

“A good friend told me you don’t need psychic powers or super strength to make you strong. It’s all about your mind, heart, and soul.”   
  
Tobio tilted his head. “You’re smart. I can see why you’re Shigeo’s boyfriend.” 

Teruki flushed a bright red. “Boyfriend? No, no, we’re _best friends_ , not boyfriends. I-I mean, I don’t think Mob thinks of me that way, he’s interested in this girl and-”   
  
“Tsubomi doesn’t like Shigeo that way. Ritsu told me. But he won’t say that to Shigeo. But, somehow, I saw you and my brother. Together. Holding hands.”   
  
Teruki’s ears were heating up. “W-What? How do you know that?”

Tobio shrugged. “After my accident, I can’t see in my right eye. But I see things still. Like auras and ghosts. Lately, I’ve been getting...visions? They’re very clear and sometimes I don’t know what they mean, but they are true. I told my brothers about it and they think I’m clairvoyant? I don’t know. But that’s what I saw.”   
  
Teruki didn’t know what to say. Thank you? Good for you? 

“Oh, also. Back when I had my accident, I remember my mom saying that someone found me. It was you. I didn’t have the chance to thank you properly. Uhm, so, uh, thanks. For saving me.” Tobio sheepishly scratched the back of his head. 

Teruki smiled. “I’m just glad that you’re safe and healthy now.”   
  
“You’re nice too. I give you my permission to date Shigeo.”   
  
The blond sputtered. “Wh-What?!”   
  
The door opened and in came Saitama and Genos. The bald man looked like the living dead, while Genos walked behind him. 

“Ah, Aniki, Genos. Good morning.” Tobio waved at them. 

“I’m going to make breakfast. What would you like?” Genos asked. 

“Omurice.” Tobio and Saitama replied simultaneously.

Genos turned to the stranger. “Who are you.”   
  
“I’m Hanazawa Teruki.” He saluted with two fingers. 

“He’s Shigeo’s soon-to-be boyfriend.” 

“Oya? Really?” Saitama is suddenly fully awake. 

Hanazawa waved his hand. “No. Shigeo and I are just best friends.”   
  
“Ohhh, first name basis already with my little brother, huhh?” 

“I-I mean, Mob! Mob and I are best friends.” 

“It’s okay to think you’re not boyfriends yet. Aniki seems to be in denial that he’s not boyfriends with Genos.” Tobio stated. 

“Tobio, you little shit, shut up!” Saitama chewed, grabbing his baby brother’s hair and messing it up. 

Genos seemed used to the tauntings so he shrugged it off, getting out the eggs and other ingredients. 

“Just you wait, brat, when you have yourself a best friend, the treatment will be one thousand times worse.” 

“Jokes on you, I don’t have any friends.” Tobio waved away Saitama’s hands.

“What about that kid from the other day? He seemed quite close with you.” Saitama grinned from behind his hand, giggling maniacally at his baby brother’s furious expression. 

Tobio slammed his fists down on the counter. “Aniki, you jerk!”

“Why are you yelling.” Shigeo asked, closing the door behind him. He still wore the ‘MEGA MILK’ hoodie, but he wore black jeans instead of pajama pants. 

“Shige-nii, Aniki is making fun of me!”

“You started it!” Saitama pointed an accusing finger at their baby brother. 

“Nii-san, don’t make fun of Tobio.” Tobio blew a raspberry at Saitama’s face.

“Shigeo, bro, you’re supposed to be on my side. Big brothers are supposed to stick up for each other! Tobio’s a child!” 

“I’m eleven!”

“Barely even a teen!”

“Nii-san, you act more like a child than Tobio does.” Shigeo grabbed a glass and opened the fridge to get a milk carton. 

Teruki snorted.

Saitama scoffed. “Uh, excuse me, where did you get this savagery, from? Cause I sure as hell know you didn’t get that from our parents.” 

“Mostly from you.” Shigeo blurted. He drank his glass of milk. “Hanazawa-kun, do you want anything to drink?”

“Any juice is fine with me.”   
  
“We have mango.” Shigeo picked the carton of mango out from the fridge and shook it. No one really drinks mango except from mom, so there’s plenty. Getting a glass from the cupboard, Shigeo poured the mango juice and handed it over to Hanazawa. 

“Thank you, Mob.” 

Genos asked what Shigeo and Hanzawa would like and Shigeo replied with pancakes. Hanazawa said he’ll take what Shigeo’s having.

The last person to come in was Ritsu, dressed up in casual clothing. 

“Ritsu-san, I’m preparing breakfast, what would you like to eat?” Genos asked. 

“Pancakes is fine, thank you, Genos-san.”   
  
Genos nodded and went back to make another pancake.

The doorbell rang. 

Tobio, closest to the door, went up and opened it. 

It was a redheaded boy wearing a green varsity jacket.

“You must be Ritsu’s little brother. Wassup?” 

“Who’re you?” Tobio demanded. 

“I’m Ritsu’s best friend. Suzuki Shou, nice to meet’cha.” 

Tobio tilted his head. 

“If it’s not any trouble, I need to talk to him.” 

“Hmmm. Okay.” Tobio inhaled a large gulp of breath. “Ritsu-nii! Your boyfriend wants to talk to you!” 

“Eh?”

Ritsu came out from the other door and rushed to the entrance. 

“Tobio, Shou is not my boyfriend.” Ritsu hissed, pushing Tobio back to the other room. 

“Oohh, on a first name basis already, you work faster than Shigeo-nii.” Tobio deadpanned, shoved back to the room and door closed. 

Tobio stood there. Huh. Ritsu was in a rush.

“Who was that?” Saitama asked, his mouth filled with food. 

“Ritsu’s boyfriend.”   
  
“Oya? Really?” He gulped down the food. 

“Ritsu has a boyfriend?” Shigeo wondered. 

“Yeah, he has red hair and a green varsity jacket.” Tobio described. 

“Oh, you mean Suzuki.” Hanazawa cleared. 

“I didn’t know Ritsu was going out with Suzuki-kun.” Shigeo said. 

“Hold on, why isn’t Ritsu inviting him in? I wanna meet the guy. Oi, Ritsu!” Saitama left the table and opened the door. 

The boys at the dining table can hear the loud conversation between Saitama and Ritsu. Then the Kageyama brothers came in with Suzuki in tow. 

“Was Ritsu-nii nice enough to invite his boyfriend in?” Tobio asked from his seat. 

Ritsu shot a withering glare at his baby brother. Saitama patted Ritsu’s head. “I invited the guy in since Ritsu here was shooing Suzuki away. Honestly, Richan, where are your manners?” Saitama teased. 

“So, Suzuki, why don’t you eat breakfast with us? My friend-”  
  
“-Boyfriend-”   
  
“Piss off, Tobio. Genos is a great cook, he can make something for you.”   
  
Shou, warming up to the hospitality, nods. “Can I have pancakes?”   
  
“I don’t understand how my brothers got boyfriends so quickly. I’m surprised, since they’re so weird at showing emotions I thought it would be more...challenging.”   
  
“Like you’re any better, brat.” Saitama quipped. 

“I’m just saying.” Tobio shrugged. 

“That is true. We do have boyfriends.” Shigeo stated. 

Hanazawa stopped mid-chew while Shou’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Saitama spewed out his water and Ritsu choked on a piece of pancake. 

“Nii-san…” 

“Shigeo…”  
  
“What? Our best friends are male. Boy friends.” Shigeo stated the obvious, 

“Is that what Tobio meant?” Ritsu looked at his baby brother. 

“I know what _I_ mean.” Tobio muttered into his omurice. 

“Brat.” Saitama growled. 

“Hey...Since Shigeo and Ritsu’s boyfriends are psychic...have you ever thought of playing psychic volleyball?” Tobio interrogated. 

The four boys looked at each other then to Tobio. 

“Owah! I would pay to see that match! With your powers it would go whoosh! Then fuuu!” Tobio’s eyes are filled with stars at the possible match that might be entrancing. 

“But, I don’t want you to destroy my volleyball. If Aniki and Genos-san were to play volleyball, they would destroy the city and my volleyball. That would suck.” Tobio thought out loud to himself. 

“Oh yeah.” Tobio snapped his fingers. “How powerful would Shigeo-nii have to be to at least be on par with Saitama’s punch?” 

It was quiet. 

“Nii-san is very strong. My psychic powers aren’t on the same level as Nii-san’s strength. Last time he visited and Dad asked how strong he became...I think he destroyed a boulder...Or was it a mountain? I think it was a mountain.”  
  
Teruki and Shou’s face showed interest.

“No way.” Shou said. He looked at Ritsu. “Wait, really?” 

“Aniki became so strong he lost his hair. Now he looks like an egg.” Ritsu commented. 

“Ritsu, square up.”   
  
“If you can beat me in Mario Kart I’ll consider it."

Saitama stayed quiet. “Why are the little brothers always little shits.” Saitama grumbled. 

  
  
  


“I don’t understand why we have to go through this.” Shigeo said. 

“Brotherly bonding and friends. I want to know more about my little brothers’ boyfriends.” Saitama adjusted his backpack. 

The Kageyama brothers were going camping in the mountains and Saitama asked his brothers to invite their friends. 

Thus Hanazawa and Suzuki came along. 

Saitama had to drag Tobio with them. At first, Tobio rejected the idea of going camping since all he’s gonna do is ninth-wheel his brothers’ boyfriends. 

“For the last time, we are not dating anyone, they’re just our best friends, now come on! Brotherly bonding!” Was what Saitama said. 

Another reason Tobio didn’t want to go camping was the mosquitos. Mosquitos love to bite on Tobio and no matter what bug spray/lotion he uses, they keep coming back for more. 

Tobio stuck close with Ritsu, holding the hem of his jacket as they walked through the smooth hiking trail.

The real companion during these trying times was Gem. She still stuck with Tobio even after the accident and would pop by from time to time. She laid on Tobio’s shoulder, watching as they continued to trek in the woods. 

“Nii-san, are you sure this is the right way?” Shigeo looked at the unknown forest, no longer on the trail. 

“When there’s adventure you don’t need no road, it’s all about the journey. Am I right, Genos?” Saitama looked back at the blond man. 

“Yes, Sensei.” Genos agreed, carrying most of the bags. 

When they found the clearing, the guys set up their tents and Ritsu started to build a fire. Then Shou ignited it. There was a forest fire. 

While Saitama and Tobio stared at the flames, Shigeo brought a whole river to put down the fire. And may have dropped the water on Shou too. 

It was fantastic. 

  
  


“Tobio’s not in his tent.” Ritsu called out to Shigeo and Saitama. 

“He said he wanted to use the bathroom.” Shigeo answered. 

“I’m sure he’s fine. What kind of trouble can Tobio get into? We’re in the woods.” Saitama waved off. 

Tobio was in trouble. After he pissed, he seemed to have lost his way back. Instead of going close to the camp, he was moving farther way from the camp. 

Ohoh, lucky him. This mountain they were on, completely in the dark with mankind. The route Saitama took was a dangerous one, but instead of admitting he got them lost, they found a clearing where there was a beautiful view of the stars. 

Tobio was sure he heard a growl from behind him. From his right eye, he saw a multitude of auras. But there were no people. 

The outlines were either people-like or oblong and weird. 

Gem seemed stressed. She pulled him back as he moved forward. 

Then he bumped into a tree. He grabbed onto the bark to stand and squeezed it. 

Wait. 

Tree barks aren’t scaley. 

When Tobio looked up, he was met with big luminescent yellow eyes. 

“Ah, shit.” Tobio cursed. 

  
  
  
  


“Mom’s going to kill me.” Ritsu had a frown etched on his face. 

It’s been an hour and Tobio hasn’t come back yet. 

“Kill you? You’ll just get away with a slap on the wrist, she’s gonna eviscerate me.” Saitama rubbed his temple. 

“We can split off into groups and find Tobio-san, Sensei.” Genos said. 

“There’s no need. He’s coming this way.” Shigeo spotted him. 

“I don’t see him.” Shou squinted, only seeing brown and green. 

“Mob is right, I feel him. But there’s more.” Hanazawa sensed more prescences coming towards them. 

“Sensei! Unknown danger incoming!” Genos yelled. 

There, in the distance, trees were being pushed down like dominos and a multitude of neon colors rushed.   
Tobio was running as fast as he could, yelling curses out loud. 

“fuck, fuck, fuCK, FUCK, FUCk-” He almost stumbled but regained his balance and hid behind Saitama. 

Saitama put his hands on his hips, “What trouble did you get into in the span of _one hour_?” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty long chapter,, huh?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loves and Goodbyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> henngggg Last chapter.... I didn't really know how to end this so I tried to think of how well this could go. Thank you so much for reading and sticking around! I appreciate it so much!!!

After Shigeo’s accident, him getting hit by a car and going batshit in Seasoning City, everything turned out fine. Shigeo turned into a third year student in his junior high while Ritsu went into his second year. Kagemama agreed for Tobio to move in with grandpa when he reached junior high. If he stays in contact with his family, then Kagemama doesn’t have to drag him back to Seasoning City. 

Being in his last year of elementary school, the students no longer pay attention to Tobio and try to frame him for anything anymore. Kiyama will try to annoy him from time to time, maybe pick fights, but it wasn’t as much as it was in fifth grade. Though, when passing through the hallways, the boys would come to glare and insult each other. It somehow became a daily ritual between them, class, insult, lunch, glaring, home. Or in Tobio’s case, volleyball practice then going home. 

Life had been at ease and normal for the Kageyama family. No worries, just the everyday stress of school and work, other than that, things have been sailing smoothly. 

Until Ritsu finds Tobio sprinting passed Salt Middle school with three angry high schoolers on his tail. 

Students from Salt blinked at the quick passersby and whispered between themselves who those people were. 

Ritsu dialed up Tobio and he picked up. “Tobio, did you just run past my school?”

“M-Maybe. I’m kinda busy right now, Nii-san.”  
  
“Are you in trouble?” 

“Something like that. But! I didn’t really start it, I just said the way they play volleyball sucks.” 

“Tobio…”

“Nii-san, I can handle this, don’t worry!”

“Are you sure? It sounds like you can’t.”  
  
“Being chased isn’t the first time Nii-san. Look, got to go, running and talking is hard.”   
  
The call ends. 

Ritsu knows Tobio handles the people in his school, maybe even middle schoolers, but high schoolers? Ritsu decides to follow the trail of his baby brother, using the GPS on his phone that is tracking the route of Tobio. 

Tobio has run pretty far. He takes a couple of seconds to catch his breath, those high schoolers are still trailing behind. He spots a familiar blonde boy by the gates and pulls at his sleeve. 

“Oh, hello, baby brother-kun.”   
  
“Hanazawa, if you see a bunch of high school dumbasses looking for me, I wasn’t here at all, okay? Oop-!” Tobio let go of his sleeve and hid behind the gates, crouching beneath the shadows. 

“You! Blondie! You see an elementary brat pass by here?!” One of the grunts barked. 

“No, I haven’t. What did he look like?”

“Stupid brat, black hair, blue eyes, ugly scar.”  
  
“I haven’t seen the kid, sorry.”   
  
“Come on, I think he went this way!” The other high schooler patted his friend’s hand. The three ran straight ahead. 

After a few minutes, Hanazawa calls out Tobio. “You can come out baby brother-kun. They’re gone.” 

Tobio peaks his head out, the coast now clear, he stands up and sighs. Hanazawa walks to him. 

“What kind of trouble did you get into?” The blond asks. 

“I was just playing volleyball with them. But the way they played volleyball sucks so I told them that. Then I ran.” 

Hanazawa chuckled. “Telling people they suck at something will do that to you.”  
  
Tobio crossed his arms and huffed. “But they really, really sucked. When they asked me if I wanted to play, I thought they were good, but they can’t serve, not even an underhand one was good. No matter how much I set the ball to them, the timing was all off or it wasn’t strong enough. They suck really bad.” 

“Did you just come from school?” 

“Huh? Yeah, I had volleyball practice.” 

“Well, your brothers must be looking for you.”  
  
“Ritsu-nii did call me. I passed by his school when I was running.” 

“You Kageyamas are always getting into some kind of trouble.” Hanazawa shook his head. 

“It’s whatever. My trouble isn’t as intense as the shit my brothers get into. I’m glad I don’t have psychic powers, the things Shigeo and Ritsu get into are crazy enough as is. Don’t get me started with Saitama, it’s top tier levels of crazier.” 

Hanazawa blinked. “You’re not wrong there. I’m not sure the kinds of crazy your eldest brother gets into, but I do agree that your other brothers get roped into some deep stuff.” 

Tobio nodded.

“Oh, Tobio, there you were. I was looking for you.” Ritsu appeared, putting back his phone in his pocket. 

“Little brother-kun, fancy seeing you here.” 

Ritsu nods at Hanazawa. “Thanks for watching over Tobio. I hope he didn’t cause you any trouble.”  
  
Hanazawa waved off. “No, not at all.”   
  
“Still, he can be quite troublesome.” 

“Oi, I’m right here.” Tobio irked at his older brother. 

Ritsu ignored him. “Anyways, thanks again. C’mon, troublesome brother you.”   
  
“I’m not troublesome!” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


There are things that should be kept private. For example, Tobio does manicures every week. Since he plays volleyball, he keeps his nails trimmed and even, clean and sleek. No one knows about this. It’s his little secret. 

One thing that should be kept private were relationships. 

How did he get to this point? 

Well it started with a loud noise coming from his older brother’s room. It was 3AM and Tobio jumped out of his skin when he heard it. Rubbing his eyes, he knocked on Ritsu’s door and when he opened it, once he did, he did a double take. 

Suzuki Shou is on top of his older brother. Tobio thinks they were kissing, telling from the embarrassed face Ritsu had, though it was dark, Tobio can tell that his brother was a tomato. 

Tobio rubbed his eyes again. 

He grunted. “Don’t be so loud.” 

Ritsu squawked as Tobio closed the door and went back to his room to go back to sleep. 

That morning, Ritsu couldn’t look Tobio in the eye. Tobio couldn’t care less at what he saw, but why at 3Am? Does Suzuki creep in Ritsu's room just to kiss him? Wait, their rooms are pretty high up, how the hell did he get in?? Oh wait, doesn’t that redhead levitate? Maybe, but Tobio thinks he climbed the tree. Suzuki can float, but Tobio thinks he’ll climb a tree because it’s more fun that way to get into Ritsu’s room. Has he been doing this since they met? How does Shigeo not hear them???

Hanazawa came over to the Kageyama house to visit Shigeo but Shigeo was still at his club. So Hanazawa waited. Ritsu had come from school with Suzuki following behind and they all sat in the living room, Suzuki and Ritsu playing a game. 

Tobio doesn’t remember, but Hanazawa was talking about his love life and his crush on Shigeo. 

Ritsu was a bit unnerved about it since he has that brother complex on Shigeo but he did listen. 

“Dude, just ask him out already. Hearing you bitch about how he’s sooo cute isn’t going to help you.” Suzuki said, then cursing out loud. 

“I can’t! I don’t even know if he likes me like that.” 

“If my brother tolerates you, he likes you.” Ritsu snipped.

“No, I mean I don’t know if he likes guys.”   
  
“Well, Shigeo only had one crush and she was a girl. I’m not entirely sure what Shigeo’s preference may be.” Ritsu shrugged. 

“Ritsu, stop cheating!” Suzuki kicked at Ritsu’s leg. 

“No, Shigeo likes dick too.” Tobio piped up. 

Hanazawa choked on the juice box he was drinking, while Suzuki burst out into a fit of laughter and Ritsu turned at Tobio, probably getting whiplash too. 

“You’re eleven, how can you say that?” Hanazawa sputters, red as a cherry, wipes the corner of his mouth. 

Tobio shrugged. “We were watching this long ad about a K-Pop boy band and Shigeo thought this one guy was pretty cute and said he would date him if he could. Then I asked if he found boys cute and he said yeah. I’m pretty sure he came out to me.”  
  
“But-How- I don’t even know if I’m his type!” 

“No, my brothers have a type.”  
  
“What type would that be?” Ritsu asked.

“Well, light hair, light eyes, and at some point fought against them. Maybe having psychic powers or being half cyborg is a plus too. I don’t really get it, but whatever makes them happy, I guess.” Tobio listed, then going back to scrolling at his phone. 

“Your little brother is hysterical, Ritsu.” Suzuki wiped a tear from his eye. 

“Tobio, I think you text Saitama too much.”  
  
“Aniki just sends me weird memes at four in the morning. And he keeps sending me two ‘o’s with a ‘w’ in between. I don’t get it.” 

“OwO” Suzuki says.

“Stop it.” Ritsu glares at him.

“UwU” Hanazawa adds. 

“You stop it too.” 

  
  
  


Shigeo was hanging out with Hanazawa on a Sunday. Hanazawa came by his house and they were just chilling in his room. Everything was good. 

Until Shigeo started coughing up flower petals. 

The blond tried to help Shigeo by patting his back and started asking questions. “Kageyama-kun, what happened?”  
  
“I-I’m fine.” Shigeo started to tear up. More purple petals started to fall out of his mouth.

“Wait, I thought Hanahaki Disease was just a fanfiction trope, I-I didn’t think it’d be real!” Hanazawa started to panic. 

“It’s okay, Hanazawa-kun, I’ll be fine.” As he coughs up more petals, one was even a full purple flower.

Hanazawa’s heart hurt. “Who is it? Who do you like?”

Shigeo was quiet. His maroon eyes were on the ground and it trailed up to Hanazawa’s face, right in front of him, his brows scrunched and a painted frown on his face. Shigeo looked away.

“...You.”  
  
Hanazawa pointed at himself, shaking. “M-Me? Me?” 

Shigeo nodded. 

“But, Kageyama-kun, I…” Teruki gritted his teeth, pushing down the oncoming blush that was sure to appear on him. “I like you. A lot. M-More than a friend, so, how are you coughing up flower petals if your feelings are returned?”

Shigeo sniffed. “Tobio and Ritsu dared me to eat all the morning glories from the backyard. They wondered how much I can swallow without throwing it back up.” 

Hanazawa’s brain just exploded. 

“What.”  
  
“Yeah, it was pretty easy since they were soft. But I think I ate too much and now I’m coughing it back up.”   
  
_“What.”_

“I like you too, Hanazawa-kun. But if I did have Hanahaki Disease, I guess you could say you saved me. So, thank you for saving me.”   
  
The poor blond buried his red face into his hands and Shigeo thought this was a good time for a hug. 

Hugs make everything better. 

According to his brothers, he gives the best hugs. 

Right now, Hanazawa is in need for a good hug. 

  
  
  
  


“A significant other? Why would I need that?” Tobio scrunches his nose at the question his brother asked. 

“You don’t know when you’ll have one. They just come as a surprise. When you get them, it’s like a burst of emotions.” Saitama responds.   
  
“But _why_ would I need one? It’ll get in the way of volleyball.” 

“I’m not saying you need one, I’m just saying when you find them, it’ll feel like everything you do just feels better when they’re around and makes you want to work harder.”   
  
“Work harder for what?”

“Anything, really.”  
  
“So, you’re saying...If I find this person, I’ll get stronger? I’ll be better at volleyball?”

“Something like that.” Saitama shrugs. 

“How can I find them?” Tobio drapes his body over his older brother’s shoulders.

“You’ll know when you see the fight in their eyes, and you feel something click. Connect maybe? For others it's different, a punch, electrified, a burst of air, fireworks.” Saitama explains, looking at the cursed image subreddit. 

"What if I can't find them?"

“No, you’re bound to find them. Whether it be at the mall, park, or at the court.”   
  
“I hope they don’t challenge me to be their rival or be in a fight.”   
  
“Hey now, if they do, that means you’re really a Kageyama.” Saitama said, ruffling Tobio’s hair.   
  
“If they were a volleyball player, that’d be great too. That means we can play volleyball forever.”   
  


  
  
  


Tobio thinks of the memories he had with his family. All the good, the bad, the weird, and definitely the best. His family helped him pack all his things into boxes and suitcases. This is a new chapter in his life, a whole new step that he has to take. Tobio has his family to support him in what he does and the love coming from them even from far away. 

His family spent a week in his grandpa’s house, then they have to drive back to Seasoning City. But they’re leaving him here. Thousands and thousands of miles away from where he used to live. With his parents and with his brothers. 

His mom and dad give him loving kisses and soft hugs. Ritsu and Shigeo give Tobio the brightest smiles, head pats, hair ruffles, and excruciatingly tight hugs. They wish him luck in his new life, where they won’t be next to him physically. 

Seeing the family car become tinier and tinier, Tobio ceases his waving. 

His grandpa whistles. Turning around, Tobio uses his forearm to wipe away the stinging of his tears. 

Grandpa raises the object on his hand. 

“Chin up, Tobio. Let’s go play some volleyball.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bishhhhh git buckled for the short story Imma bout to make


End file.
